Mint Flavored Slumber Party
by Patchlamb
Summary: It's Vanellope von Schweetz birthday! She's itching to prove to the others she can be their leader and still be their friends, so this has to be big. What's a better way to assure them than with a slumber party? Not to mention the fact that it gives her a chance to hang out with a certain-someone for an entire night. If the mint chocolate cake doesn't boost her chances, what will?
1. Forget Something?

_**Please do inform me if there are any mistakes or flaws, I haven't tried anything like this since about 2009. I'm rusty. I'm a little iffy about where this is going because of that, but I'll try my best!**_

* * *

You'd imagine suddenly going from an out-casted nobody to an uplifted somebody would be tough to transition into. Luckily, Vanellope von Shweetz had not only racing, but leadership in her code as well. Even before the virus that was recently destroyed had unknowingly plagued the candy coated hills of Sugar Rush, she was outgoing and knew exactly what to do. Leading a bunch of brats? Kid stuff!

To be fair, they technically were no longer "brats." Being that they were her responsibility now, or at least shepherding them was, she had to forgive them quickly. Vanellope couldn't really blame them, everything was Turbo's fault after all. Having their memories stashed away, with accusing fingers pointed at her with shouts of "glitch" was simply because they didn't know any better. This made forgiving them much easier- especially after Taffyta had broken down right in front of her! Now THAT was something she'd never forget.

"Outta' my way!" the sound of speeding candy karts zipping through the curvy trails of the racing track filled the air; competitiveness thick within the mix. This was what all the residents here (at least the candy themed children) were coded to do; win. It was the last lap, and Vanellope was close to winning. Half the track flew by in such a rush, that one could imagine there was no way anyone could pass their new president with enough time to win. There was a reason she'd been the leader _before_ the virus, after all. She was fast; _really fast_.

With the excitement of the race, she hardly saw the slippery liquid ahead of her as her kart spun in a tight circle and nearly crashed. "Woooah!" was the only sound Vanellope could muster, trying to force herself back in the right direction. As she finally steadied the wheel- _woosh! _Vanellope von Schweetz was no longer in first place. She gritted her teeth and glared, pushing down on the pedal with all the strength a 12 year old could.

Through the rushing of wheels and air, she could slightly make out the sound of triumphant laughter; obviously Candlehead (who she recognized from the kart) was purposely laughing loud enough for her to hear over the racket. The jittery girl wanted her to know who was about to completely own her. _Not today, sugar cube._

Turning hard around a corner, Vanellope found herself gaining on Candlehead at a very quick pace; she wasn't going to lose to someone with a _candle_ on their _head_! Even if it was an interesting feature of the single characters design- Vanellope thought it was utterly ridiculous. The tied off green hair was much more stylish on her, though, since it matched her big green eyes. Her pink get up wasn't half bad either. _Snap out of it, Vanellope!_

Nearing her kart and shaking the thoughts from her mind, she gave a huge toothy smirk, ponytail flopping in the wind. In no time, she was right beside Candlehead's kart, and close to passing. She couldn't give up the opportunity to gloat, though.

"I'm gonna win this time!" yelled Candlehead, with a friendly grin back, trying to keep her eyes forward. Being the scatterbrain she was, Vanellope was surprised she didn't stupidly take her eyes of the course. The curves would destroy her if she did.

"Yeah right!" Vanellope called back, boasting with a loud roar and a powerful burst forward. Left, right, right, past the snowy hills of ice cream and sugar. It was Vanellope- no, Candlehead- Vanellope- Candlehead- and then it was all over.

Vanellope von Shweetz had won. _Again._ Right behind her came Candlehead, skidding to a halt; her kart flew side ways in resistance. "Ohhh. ." she acted as if she was about to fume, disappointed in her loss. Her fans began to mope with her. Vanellope won a gold trophy, not like she didn't have a million of them. The player beyond the screen mentally cursed- maybe next time they wouldn't choose a silly character with a candle sticking right up on top of them! Angry, they got up, and walked away, just as the arcade was closing.

Within seconds, the rest of the characters came speeding in past the finish line; the last race of the day, who else could win but the president? She'd won three times in a row, but it didn't really matter.

"In your face!" cried the energetic girl, bouncing around in a circle laughing. She was always happy to be first place, no matter how many times she'd won.

"Oh shuddup." came the sad voice of Candlehead, who had gotten out of her kart. She stood awkwardly with her arms crossed, pouting. "Y'only won because I let you."

But Vanellope paid no mind to her, prancing off with her trophy.

It was all in the fun of the game; there had to be a winner, and there had to be a loser. Everyone but Rancis had won that day, and he was off sulking alone. Today had been busy. Tomorrow was a Sunday, though, which wouldn't be very busy at all. Most children would be at home, and some to church. There would be a time for rest until the races continued on Monday. The thought was like a mouthful of honey and milk to Vanellope, who had gone to set her trophy down inside her kart. She was exhausted.

"I'm going home, guys." she tiredly said, ready to leave. She lived in the palace now, but still kept her hideout inside the mountain. After the cy-bugs attacked, things had gotten rather messy. Using the blast from the great cola volcano, her old home had mostly been destroyed. So much cola can only go so far- not to mention eventually has to flood back down. But, she set the place back up anyways after a little clean up. She didn't sleep there anymore, though.

"Princess," came the urgent voice of Jubileena Bing-Bing, trying to catch her attention before she left. "I m-mean president." Some of them still thought she should be a princess, it sounded a lot better for the game and just felt right to them. It really just wasn't Vanellope's style.

"Eeyup?" she turned, hands in pockets and heels rocking.

"Isn't your birthday in a couple of days?"

How could she forget! While all the candy children aged (mentally) in the same way, on the same day, the characters themselves were listed with their own separate birthdays. They celebrated them on those programmed days rather than the day of the game's (and their) creation. The princess's- er- president's- birthday was kinda a big deal. Especially after the recent events.

"Oh, yeah, it is!" she thought out loud, looking off. "I gotta plan a party, quick!"

Some of the kids were listening, while the others were preparing to leave. "Like what?" Jubileena asked, though Vanellope looked like she was about to dart off in a panic to get the planning started early. "Do you need any help?" it was only right to ask, after all the teasing and bullying. There was no way the kids could ever truly say sorry for the torment, but they'd try anyway.

"I'll help, too," came the voice of Taffyta "if that's okay." came the voice again after wards, much quieter than before and with a sort of humbleness.

"Huh? Oh, sure whatever. Just'a few."

From there, Vanellope had two volunteers. She needed one more, then she'd be set. "Anyone else?" any who were keeping an ear on them raised their hands with a jerky haste; eager to stay on her good side. Not like she would ever hurt anyone, though, just because she was in charge. Seeing everyone grovel at her feet was enough. To be honest, she wanted friends more than servants. Another reason why being called princess was out of the question.

"Mmmm," she hummed thoughtfully, eyeing all the little hands. The person who stuck out the most to her, however, was the green haired, open flamed, minty child, who she just did circles around not two minutes ago. _Hello, volunteer number three. _After a second of consideration, she called out "Candlehead."

* * *

_**I have at least two other chapters I've typed out and am revising so far. There will be more than that, though. Even if you guys aren't fond of what I have currently I think I'll type it out til the end anyways for my sake. Though I don't know if I'd post it here if I find you're not enjoying yourself. **_

_**(Candlehead is minty right? Aw it doesn't matter. She was supposted to be mint flavored before they made the character Minty-whatever her name is. That girl will always seem like sour apple to me more than mint.)**_


	2. Party Planning and Nervous Jitters

_**Not much goes on in this chapter. Sorry! Please feel free to point out flaws and critique. I've only gotten the chance to see the movie once!**_

* * *

After consuming a dinner mainly of baked goods and sweets, Vanellope went to her room. Sour Bill- who she considered her vice president- would be left to clean up the little girl's mess. It had been a few hours since everyone had gone home, there would be no decorating tonight. Rather, she found herself leaning against a fluffy marshmallow pillow, pen and paper in hand. She had a king sized bed, and a large spacious room, so there was plenty of thinking space.

Her legs crossed, a bare foot bouncing. The gown she wore was a light, silky blue. She chewed the end of the pencil, looking off into space. Usually Vanellope was a very creative girl, but tonight ideas just weren't flowing.

This had to be special. She wanted to show her peers that they had nothing to fear from her; that she could lead them and still be one of them. That she could still be a friend, so there were no hard feelings.

"Miss Schweetz," came the familiar depressing tone of Sour Bill from her doorway "It's getting really late. Aren't you tired yet?"

"Oh shuddup, I know it's late." Perhaps that was too harsh. "I'm just having a liiiittle trouble coming up with some party ideas is all. It's driving me craaa-zy!" exasperated, she half threw the material in her hand off to the side, leaning her head back to stare up at the ceiling in a huff. It was pink, or rather "salmon" and was dotted with glow-in-the-dark candy stars. How they worked she'd never know.

"I just- blarg."

"I could help, I suppooose."

"Well," Vanellope sat upright, legs now Indian style; words came a mile a minute "if'n you know how to throw a party for yourself but _everyone else_ at the same time, all while makin' sure no one thinks you're about to brutally kill them, be my guest. Go crazy!"

The little green ball stepped in, eyes looking sad- or was he just sleepy? It was hard to tell. "What do you have so far?"

"Chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Who doesn't like chocolate?"

"Your friend Ralph doesn't like chocolate."

"Ohhh, that's right! See? This is harder than it looks!" she pouted, giving him great big puppy dog eyes that could melt straight through the coldest heart.

"If you want to get to know them, you could just throw a slumber party."

The puppy dog eyes gone, her face lit up. "That's it! But I still need to decorate. Needatheme, needatheme." It appeared she wouldn't be getting sleep any time soon, bursting with such excitement now that her mind was finally filled with color and creative juices. "Chocolate!"

"Ralph." groaned Sour Bill.

"Ohyeah, we already been through that. ."

With a sigh, Sour Bill rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

With a lot of convincing, and about an hour of chatter, Sour Bill had finally put Vanellope to rest. He was an adult minded wad of bitter sour feelings, in a world of little talkative children. It was hard, but who else would look after the president if things ever got shaky (except that one time)? Not to mention keep her in check. Even if she was the one calling the shots once more, she was still the jumpy, energetic Vanellope von Schweetz. She was much harder to maintain than King Candy ever was.

The simulated time system allowed for a day and night cycle, though it was nothing like a real one. It was jumpy, so when morning finally came it was more like going from drippy darkness to sudden beams of blinding sun light, rather than have the sun etch slowly through the sky.

Nervously, Vanellope clothed herself in her regular designed attire, light shining through candy curtains. Her coding fizzled and she glitched, on edge about having not yet thought of anything new since last night.

It was silly to be so jittery, after all even if the party was no good nobody would say anything, scared of the wrath that Vanellope herself knew that she lacked. She sighed loudly, looking into a full body mirror carved out of sugar glass (it wasn't a great mirror, after all it was made from sugar).

"Alright. Ralph and Felix are coming too, I gotta think of them." They wouldn't spend the night like the girls, but they were more important to her than anything. Well, other than a certain-someone, that is. Vanellope would never admit it, but she had a crush. To be quite frank, it was a very, very big crush. If she could compare it to anything, it would perhaps be the depth of the bottomless oceans expanding the human world; full of exciting new things, color, adventure, and an endless amount of ever evolving sea beasts, great and small.

_How cheesy._

"Okay, maybe it's not that big." she laughed to herself "More like the size of a small lake."

"Excuse me, I hate to interrupt your conversation, but your friends are here." Sour Bill informed her, peeking around the door with his usual expression. He didn't ask questions much. Not like Vanellope talking to herself was new, though.

"So," the sweet, candy red Jubileena began as Vanellope came from her room to greet them "what do you need us to do?" Taffyta stood beside her, looking a little shy. She'd get over it eventually, after Vanellope proved she wouldn't punish anyone. Maybe they would even be good friends, too! Vanellope didn't think they were before. Probably because Taffyta was just designed to be more of a smart mouth than the others.

Despite everyone's memory being back, it felt as if she hadn't spoken to the others as equals in years.

"What I'm thinking, is a great big slumber party."

The two other girls waited for something more, but when nothing came, Taffyta spoke up. "What about games?"

"Right right- oh hey, where is Candlehead?" A hand brushed back her hair, moving over the candy and sprinkles stuck in the inky, silk like thread. Palace life does wonders for your hygiene, though bits were still plastered in her hair. "She's late."

"You know her, always all over the place." Taffyta snickered, though Candlehead was one of her closer friends, despite a few oddities. She was probably one of the more fun children to hang out with, being able to dish out jokes and take them as well.

"Yeah," agreed Jubileena "I wouldn't be surprised if she just woke up. It's going to be a while before she realizes she has somewhere to be I bet." a pause "But she's a really nice girl!"

"So, the games?" Taffyta asked again, hoping to snap Vanellope out of the daydream she appeared to be having.

She jittered and glitched, looking back at the two. "What about having a piñata?"

"Not a living one!" the red head gasped, hands to her cheeks.

"Nooo! One you can actually smash." A sigh of relief came from Jubileena's mouth, hands back down to her sides.

"That's not really a game, Vanellope." Taffyta remarked, unintentionally with a smart tone. "But it'd be fun, we could stuff it with candy that everyone likes."

"Done and done!"

As they moved into her room to discuss further plans, there came a knock at her door.

"Hey." came Sour Bill's voice "I found your straddler." He hadn't even opened the door, mumbling through the sticky frame. Then, when it did open, Candlehead came trotting in with a stressed expression.

"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, glancing around. She'd never been in the palace before- especially not Vanellope von Schweetz's room. "I sorta slept in."

G-g-glitch. _Stop that, you didn't glitch at the race yesterday._

"Not like you haven't slept in before." joked Taffyta, dress glittering under her jacket.

"Haha, yeah you're right. Sorry anyways!"

From there the four girls began the party planning. Once everything was down on paper, the fun part would begin; decorating. And, every so often, Vanellope von Schweetz would have to force away the jitters. It wasn't easy.


	3. Jealousy

Balloons, a large array of sweets, confetti and streamers, and even a few good sized blue bunny pinatas. It all looked so great! It took all day to set everything up. The last thing on the list was to see about the cake and guests. Everyone would be attending, but not everyone would be staying the night. In short- no boys allowed! It was a girls only sleep over, which thanks to a suggestion by Taffyta, would likely include a sappy truth or dare session or two.

"Is uh- what's his name- coming?" asked Jubileena, laying upon a cottony couch and twirling her hair with a finger.

"Who?" questioned Vanellope back.

"You know. Big guy. Ran us off when. . you know. Really sorry about that." That was probably the millionth time, Vanellope thought, that someone had apologized.

"Oh, Stinkbrain! Of course he's coming, he's my best friend!" she gave a big dorky grin, sitting down beside the other candy girl. "You think he'd miss the bestest birthday party ever? You gotta be a dummy to miss this!" It had been at least a week since they'd visited one another. One can only take so much waving back and forth between screens. Face-to-face contact was much better.

"What about Raaaancis?" Taffyta smirked, cross legged on the floor. She was giving Vanellope a look, eye brow raised like she knew something.

Vanellope acted like the joke went over her head, but knew what the girl had been implying. She rolled her eyes.

"I heard," Candlehead- who was sitting beside Taffyta- stopped short and began giggling like an idiot "that he liked you!" she glanced around at the others, face glowing from the thought of romance.

To be honest, Vanellope von Shweetz _used_ to have a bit of a crush on Rancis. She liked denying it though, even to herself.

Little girls and their gossip- acting as if they knew a single thing about love. They like to think they do, but things change as they grow wiser. It doesn't help that their coding itself doesn't exactly re-write when they age, at least it doesn't re-write _**much**_. The mentality of giggling and blushing, saying things like _'so-and-so wants to know if you'll hold their hand'_ all comes with the delight of childhood. And the children of Sugar Rush will forever be stuck in that delight.

The furthest anyone would ever go would probably be kissing.

Trying hard to look Candlehead in the eye, Vanellope finally replied "I'unno if he's my type!" Talking about this sort of stuff was making her a little queasy.

"Ohhhh, then what _is_ your type?" Taffyta asked without hesitation, that smirk still painted wide on her face. She was getting more open with her already.

A nervous smile inched over Vanellope, and it took all her might to keep her code from fumbling. However, she was unable to keep the deep red from rising in onto her plump cheeks. She wasn't normally a shy person. Then again, she wasn't normally crushing on anyone, either.

Her arms crossed, chest puffed out and head up. "I'm not tellin'!" She made it too obvious.

"Vanellope!" came Taffyta's mockingly astonished voice, along with excited giggles from Jubileena. Candlehead didn't seem to understand what the fuss was about right away- but when she did, she turned the brightest shade of pink possible. She looked more like a strawberry than Taffyta!

"You gotta crush!" Candlehead blurted out in confirmation.

"Ewww, no! I-" there was a knock. One of her candy servants (she really didn't want to call them servants though) was standing at the entrance to the lounge the loud girls occupied. He looked sort of like a living lollipop, with pink and white swirls and a thin papery body. What an awkward design.

He bowed "Princess-"

"President" she quickly corrected.

"Oh- yes. I was sent by Sour Bill to inform you of what time it is."

"Annnndd. .?" she tapped a finger impatiently, pulling her legs up under her.

"It's currently 7PM, Miss Schweetz."

She gasped. half jumping off the couch. "We gotta make the cake!" She had let time get away with the other girls. By now, it was pretty dark out. The odd candy servant left the room in the background without another word.

"Ooo, cake!" clapped Candlehead, with an open mouthed smile. As a character based on birthday cake, Vanellope suddenly had a amazing (if not a little ambitious) idea.

Dropping off talk of love and girly things, it was time to get to work on the main feature before it got too late. _And Candlehead would be the perfect topper._

* * *

Baking the cake was easy. Everyone in Sugar Rush understood how to make tasty sweets- especially since their karts were made from the stuff! Not to mention their entire world. So it came natural to make a huge three layered cake for a fancy slumber party. It was twice as tall as the girls were individually.

On top of the huge cake was a thick sugar glass platform that stuck into the cake about two layers down. The flat top was large enough for a single small child to stand upon. On the first two layers there were large candles, spaced evenly apart and striped white and green.

She made sure it was mint chocolate, despite the fact her best friend wasn't very fond of the taste. Sour Bill would likely think she forgot their conversation the night before, but she could care less. She made a mental note to explain to Ralph later; now _that_ will be an awkward conversation.

Jubileena was adding some extra touches at last notice, while the others stood around the palace's giant, colorful kitchen. Taffyta was off to the side, staring at Candlehead.

"_You're_ the main attraction." said Vanellope matter-o-factly, poking Candlehead on the nose. She had a satisfied smirk as the minty girl crossed her eyes and flinched. "Can you hardly believe it?"

Taffyta- though reluctantly- and Jubilenna agreed on the idea of having Candlehead stand atop the cake in a show of light before anyone had a bite of it. It was like dinner and a show, but you couldn't eat until the show was over of course.

All the children were so spry, it would be easy to get her up there. If Vanellope could leap onto Ralph's shoulder with accuracy and not even stumble, Candlehead would be able to get herself on top of the pedestal no problem.

"It's my favorite flavor." stated Candlehead, smiling back at Vanellope. "But um, what am I supposed to do?" she looked up at the towering cake, swaying a little.

"You just gotta smile." Taffyta replied unenthusiastically. In truth, she was a little jealous. She looked a lot better than Candlehead did, but Candlehead's was still the one who would be getting all the attention. However, Vanellope von Schweetz wanted her on top, and Taffyta still had a lingering fear that she'd get herself beheaded if not careful. _Ouch__._

"And make sure you look good!" nodded Jubileena, stepping away from the cake though not taking her eyes from it.

At the notion, Candlehead turned her smile into something more exaggerated and lifted up her arms and head. "Like thith?" she hissed through her teeth, looking from Jubileena to Vanellope then finally back to Taffyta, waiting for confirmation.

"That exxxxactly." agreed Vanellope, tilting her head and breathing deeply. "Maybe soften the smile a little though, will'ya?" Taffyta rolled her eyes.

"I think," Taffyta began "maybe you should try and look less stupid." her jealousy was coming through.

"Taffyta. ." suddenly it seemed like their president was about to explode. She wouldn't have any name calling; not in her palace, and certainly not to _her. _Vanellope had enough of it when she was considered just a girl with dirty hair.

"Kidding!" Taffyta quickly burst out, hands up. "Kidding! You look. ." she eyed Candlehead, who was still in the position and looking tired. ". . okay. _I guess_. Now stop. . that." she waved a hand.

Sighing loudly, Candlehead slouched and let her arms drop, looking up at Taffyta from where she stood a small distance away.

Vanellope's expression was still that of irritation, but seeing Candlehead seemed to take no offense she softened her glare.

Eventually they all went home, speeding through the dark. They knew the trails and tracks like the back of their hands. Today had been busy, but allowed Vanellope to bond with the other three girls nicely.

Before leaving, Candlehead had felt it appropriate to give Vanellope a tight hug and declare loudly "I'm sooo sorry I was mean to you!" before scampering off like the other girls. _One million and one. _She kept count of the apologies, even if they were exaggerated.

After double checking that everything looked good for tomorrow on the inside, it was time for bed. With all the amazing thoughts of today and tomorrow, sleep didn't find Vanellope easy. It was filled with long silent minutes of restless darkness, and the movement of a little girl who just couldn't lay still.

It really didn't help to keep thinking of the close contact with Candlehead.

* * *

_**Do you think the pacing is too slow? I'd enjoy feed back on the matter! Please and thank you!**_


	4. Your Secret is Safe with Me

Today was the day_;_ the day celebrating Vanellope von Schweetz's programmed birthday.

After the last race, everyone had gone home to prepare. There was no need for invitations- other than the fact there was no way anyone would forget her birthday- she announced it at the start of the first race to be careful.

The palace was decorated stupendously, ready to hold a horde of hyper active and loud children. There were tables lined with baked goods on both the outside and main lounge inside. All the food was set out an hour before by Sour Bill and the servants.

While everyone else was at home frantically taking care to look nice and double check their gift wrapping, Vanellope sat nervous on her bed. Her legs were hung over the side, one swinging lightly. She looked distant, mind wandering.

She couldn't find the courage to shake away the butterfly feeling in her stomach. It filled her with a sort of anxiety that was foreign to her. She didn't like it at all.

A few moments ago, she had ordered Sour Bill to triple check everything, despite her having checked just the night before. It had to be perfect. It had to be fun. It had to be something no one could forget.

She played those words in her mind so many times, it appeared she had forgotten why birthday parties even existed; to praise a person for another year of life. They weren't meant to impress somebody's friends- they were designed to celebrate a person, and a single person alone.

She would get over it eventually, especially after Ralph finally showed up. She wanted him to come early so they could just hang out alone before she had the other kids to entertain.

After a couple more minutes of lonesome worry, she found herself unable to sit still any longer. She leapt down and wandered the lonesome halls. Along the brightly colored walls were light green streams of paper, plastered there by something-or-other for decoration.

The palace was a big place, but the layout was simple enough to not get lost in it. Or maybe it was just because she was used to it and was no longer able to get lost?

Before long she found herself coming into the main lounge, a bored look on her face. This was were they would open gifts and eat the cake, which sat off on a big table in the corner. Another table was beside it, empty. Gifts would go there.

Waiting was so excruciating. She sighed loudly, falling onto the couch face first. Half her body hung off, and soon she slid into the floor. Vanellope was about to go crazy.

"Are you alright, Miss Schweetz?" came a worried voice from a chocolaty servant who had come to set out some small marshmallow pillows for seating- the couch wouldn't be enough. It was funny, how such a large room only had one form of seating.

Vanellope was still face down on the floor."Mphhhh." was all that came.

A pause. "Oh. Okay. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I just saw your friend outside."

Suddenly she popped her head up on little arms. "Ralph?"

She got up, nearly tripping over herself, and flew down the hall, leaving the candy servant behind before he could even get another word out. Her entire body was suddenly bursting with energy and excitement; the true definition of a sugar rush.

She ran right into him. Sour Bill was in the middle of escorting him to her room and was carrying his gift, when the little flurry of energy came bolting around a corner. Vanellope hit Ralph's leg with a _"omph,"_ losing her breath and toppling over backwards.

"Are you okay?" Sour Bill asked, voice void of emotion. A good-natured laugh came from Ralph as he set his friend upright again; picking her up by her hoodie so she could get steady on her feet.

"Ralph!" she acted like nothing had happened, stepping back to take in the giant. "Hows my favorite hero?"

To Ralph, it was one of the most amazing feelings in the world to be seen as a hero. Every time Vanellope called him that he couldn't help but smile sheepishly.

"Ahh the usual. What's important," he left off before unexpectedly scooping her up and giving her a tight hug, much to her dismay "is it's your birthday! Happy birthday you lil' brat!"

Vanellope squirmed, laughing the whole time. She slipped through his big arms and returned to her stance on the ground. By now Sour Bill was walking away in the direction Vanellope had come from, no longer interested. They didn't notice, though.

"Come on, lets go to my room and do stuff! I gotta tell you all about what we got planned!" she squeaked, pulling on his brown overalls.

"Okay okay! Calm down, Miss President!"

Her worry had melted away; Vanellope now felt ready to face the rest of the day. This was going to be fun after all!

* * *

The children began arriving half an hour later. Everyone would be outside while it was still light, playing games that most children their age were fond of- mainly tag. They were eating up the sweets and goods, but there would _always _be plenty of room for cake.

Loud pop music played, a good fit for the colorful and bouncy game of Sugar Rush. It wasn't so loud that you'd have to yell over, though. A small group of the children were dancing, thinking highly of themselves and showing off. Rancis was one of them, obviously.

"You did a amazing job!" Ralph commented toward Vanellope, who was bobbing her head while sitting up on his shoulder.

"I had Sour Bill make sure eeevery little thing was in just the right way. In a little while we get to beat up a buncha' pinatas!" she seemed excited at the notion, gesturing toward the three bright blue bunnies that hung from a licorice tree.

"Gonna beat it's head in!" she whacked the air with an invisible bat, getting a amused smile from Ralph.

Suddenly, she realized Felix hadn't arrived yet. She wasn't _as_ close to him as she was Ralph, but he was still a good friend.

"Hey Ralph, where's Felix?" she asked as Ralph shoved a few cup cakes in his mouth at once, since they were so small. He had a hard time getting the wrappers off before hand.

"He's gonna be late." he mumbled through the vanilla pastries. "Tamora wanted to see him or somethin'"

_Of course,_ Vanellope though, _since they're married and all, being from different games must be a little annoying._

Swallowing the tasty sweets, Ralph felt the pull of a little hand at his overalls. He looked down to see the grinning face of one of the candy girls, who he recognized as a friend of Taffya from when they bullied Vanellope. She was hard to forget, what with the green hair and candle on her head.

Instantly, he didn't like her much.

"Hey, hi," she stammered, then pointed to Vanellope who seemed distracted, watching the kids playing. "I wanna talk to her, okay?"

"What for?" he asked, turning Vanellope's attention down upon her.

"Oh, Candlehead!" exclaimed Vanellope, who then leapt down off of her friend's shoulder. "You uh, need somethin'?"

"When are we gonna do the cake?" it was obvious how eager she was to be the center of attention, since usually Taffyta was. It was nice to be desired for a change! "Cause I think it's gotta get dark soon."

Vanellope didn't want to tell her to calm down and wait, that would only push her away. "After presents."

"I got you something good," the cake based girl began, glancing up at Ralph who seemed to just be waiting for her to say something mean. "but I'm not telling you what it is!"

A sudden rush of bashfulness set in "Oh, well, you didn't have to get me nothing." she blushed, giving a small smile.

Candlehead seemed confused. "But it's your birthday!"

"Yeeaah it is." She ran out of things to say, trying hard to keep eye contact and failing. It felt awkward. They stood there a moment before Candlehead looked back to the other children. She sighed, then turned to face Vanellope again.

"Just tell me when you need me!" she nodded, bouncing, then skipped off to find Taffyta. Vanellope looked after her, letting out a slow breath of air, as if she'd been holding her breath the whole time. She nearly forgot Ralph had been behind them, watching vigilantly. He still didn't trust most of her "friends."

"Vanellope," he asked slowly "I don't think I've ever seen you so quiet before!"

"I just didn't have anything to say to her is all!" she exclaimed, turning and lifting up her head to look up at the giant. He obviously wasn't buying it, giving her a smug look.

"If you say so. But I think that you-"

"Shhh!"

"- have a-"

"Nope!" she covered her ears "lalalalala!"

"Okay, okay fine!" she uncovered her ears and stuck out her tongue. "But if you want to talk abo-"

"Okay yes, stop patronizing me I like the girl!" she flung her arms up and rolled her eyes. "Also don't eat the cake."

"Wh- what, why?"

"It's mint _chocolate_."

"Eyuk! But that's not the point!"

Vanellope sighed, crossing her arms and looking down at her feet. "It is, cause," the sentence became a whisper "I kinda did it for her."

Ralph proceeded to lower his hand in an offering for her to stand in. She gladly took it, arms instinctively spreading out for balance as he leveled their eyes.

"What was that?"

"I kind of. Did it. For her. Don't tell anyone!" she seemed genuinely embarrassed, looking around with a bright pink face, arms crossing once more.

"Your secret is safe with me, m'lady." he winked as she returned to meet his eyes again. They grew up so fast.

"Thanks, you're the best!" after a hug, she jumped down to announce it was time for the pinatas; the kids were getting antsy.

In no more than seven minutes exactly, all three pinatas had been smashed into pieces, the guts everywhere; sweet, sweet candy guts.

Everyone scrambled to scour every inch of candy on the ground. Gloyd- a Halloween themed boy- had stashed most of it into his large pumpkin hat. No one would be getting any of his candy; no way, no how!

After a while, Sour Bill shepherded everyone inside for presents, since it was nearing night time.

* * *

_**Not sure how many more chapters it'll take to get to the end. I'm editing chapter 5. I'm thinking. . maybe this story will be 8 or 9 chapters? I don't know. I don't usually do this stuff, haha!**_

_**Please tell me if there are any mistakes- I looked over it several times but I don't think I have a good eye. Please and thank you! **_

_**edit**; oh my word that tiny bit with gloyd was perfect i just NOW read his offical description and "Gloyd Orangeboar loves nothing more than candy, candy, candy!" what a perfect coincidence omg sorry im terribly amused by this_


	5. Queen Candlehead

**_Thank you all you lovely people for the comments! Makes me happy. I'd love some more in-detail ones, but I do appreciate what I get! c:_**

**_I'm sorry if a couple of you didn't connect the hint in the title and description with at least two characters. None of the male characters have anything to do with mint! I hope I don't sound rude by saying so- but don't act so surprised haha! _**

**_Unless I didn't make it obvious enough. . then sorry that my hints weren't clear that it was a female on female shipping! I just thought that implying "MINT" would be obvious since the males are only based around peanut butter cups, suckers/lollipops, and halloween. ^n^'_**

* * *

A teddy bear sized gummi bear, a carefully crafted red cat from hard candy (with a few dents), some parts for her kart- there were so many interesting and great presents! Rancis had even stuck a handmade card in with his- a sweet smelling, well designed card with fancy writing.

"To the most beautiful, amazing racer in Sugar Rush," Vanellope read aloud to the children, who were sitting comfortably on the marshmallow pillows "love, Rancis Fluggerbutter." Suddenly she wished she'd only read it to herself, as a chorus of "oooo" came right after, making her grimace in embarrassment. Rancis looked smug.

"Open mine next!" Felix called. He had arrived just before everyone had gotten situated in the lounge. Tamora came too; they sat side by side on the little marshmallows.

She complied, and took his present which was wrapped perfectly in blue, matching his get up. Vanellope ripped it open savagely, the paper flying.

Inside the box was a shining, golden hammer.

"It's not exactly one like mine, can't fix things instantly," came Felix bashfully "but I figured just in case you wanted to ever learn how to make anything, y'know. ." In truth, that was one of the things she could careless about. But she loved Felix almost as mush as she did Ralph. _Almost._

Besides, it would be fun to be able to imitate him.

"I love it!" she took out the hammer and tried to lower her voice."I can fix it!" she mocked, laughing. The other kids- and Ralph- found it amusing, beaming at Felix. He grinned.

"Yoooou're welcome young lady!"

Tamora looked more or less straight faced; she was ready to get out of here. Being in a room full of rowdy kids wasn't really her thing. She preferred rowdy adults; like there was any difference.

After unwrapping a few more presents, she finally came to Ralph's. It was wrapped- rather badly- in pink, and after tearing off the paper she found it to be a round plastic bowl. Inside was a very shoddy sugar cookie, uneven and crumbling a little. An obvious nod to the heart cookie Vanellope had made for Ralph before, though the icing was sloppy with "Happy birthday, love Stinkbrain" written on it. A large smile rose to her face instantly.

She got up and trotted to give him a hug, ecstatic.

"It's not perfect n'all, but I had help from the Nicelanders."

"It's amazing! You could stand to work on your hand writing though." She teased, giving a light punch on his arm. He nodded in reply, smiling back down on her.

Last thing on the table was a large pinkish box with strawberries on the paper, and a smaller box wrapped sloppily (but with obvious effort) off to the side, in brown paper with pink dots.

She went with the smaller present, despite what one would usually do. She would open Taffyta's (come on, it was obviously her present) last.

The paper was taped in odd directions, but it opened like any regular present would. She got the box pried open after a moment, face lighting up. Inside was a cracked, uneven tea cup made from a neon green hard candy.

A note lay beside it, and inside the oblong cup were a few well crafted flowers (pedals and all) made from peppermint candy. It was odd how such breakable material didn't have anything soft to cushion it from damage, though. How scatterbrained of the person to forget! Vanellope had a feeling the cup, though, hadn't become damaged because of that. It was just poorly made.

She took out the contents to show everyone, and it was odd how no one said a thing about how messed up the cup was."Who's it from?" yelled Jubileena, who was laying on her stomach and kicking her feet.

"Mememe! It's from me!" Candlehead had raised her hand, waving it wildly and gaining everyone's attention for a moment.

Vanellope's cheeks went red. She took the card and read it out loud. "Thank you so much for being such a ah-may-zing friend! Sorry I messed up the tea cup, but I made the flowers myself! Have a happy B-day, Candlehead" That girl was going to drive her mad.

"Told ya it was a great gift, didn't I?" she held her head high.

"It's absolutely _perfect_, Candlehead. Thank you!" Accidentally, she glitched up. If anyone noticed, they didn't comment.

Taffyta's gift wasn't as sentimental; _let's just leave it at that._

* * *

The cake was absolutely amazing- to anyone but Ralph of course. Before anyone was allowed to have a slice, the cake was presented in the middle of the room, wheeling it over on the table it was situated on. The marshmallow pillows nearly surrounded it, giving everyone a good view. They eyed it in wonder- Taffyta and Jubileena silently smiled to themselves, loving the effects their work had brought about.

_This was Candlehead's time to shine._

With a little help from Vanellope, the flame headed girl found herself on steady legs upon the thick sugar glass pedestal. Everyone's eyes were drawn toward her as a few servants lit the rest of the candles. The lights were then turned off.

The president stood off to the side so everyone could see her, the bright glow of several large candles illuminating the room tremendously.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she began "with great honor I present to you. . Mint Chocolate Mountain! And its queen- Candlehead!" A few of the kids clapped in excitement, big smiles painted over their faces.

Candlehead, who was glancing down at her peers nervously, suddenly became flustered; she wasn't informed that she was going to the the "queen" of the huge minty cake! Just to smile and look good. There was a reason why Taffyta was a leader and she was a follower.

Swallowing down her nervousness, she gave the pose she had rehearsed; arms and head up, feet pointing in, and a big smile. The flame atop her head increased in intensity. She felt the heat from its hot glow, which hadn't happened for a very long time.

"You are now required to sing Happy Birthday." commented Sour Bill with a sigh, who was now beside Vanellope and looking bored out his mind.

Everyone gladly began to sing in praise of their president. "Happy Birthday to you-"

Candlehead glanced down again, seeing that everyone's attention had turned back upon Vanellope. Thank goodness. She thought she would enjoy the attention, but it had scared her out of her wits. On the race track she loved it; but for some reason, this wasn't as easy as showing off in a race. She sang with them, relaxing her body.

The last note came, and the lights returned. Vanellope had Ralph's help reaching all the candles to blow them out, everyone clapped as the last one's flame disappeared.. He set her back down and went to help cut slices from the distasteful (in his opinion) cake.

Rather than go and get a piece, Vanellope backed up to lift her gaze towards the top layer; finding Candlehead looking back down at her, who then waved and gave a thumbs up.

While everyone began to be served large portions of the cake (being a video game character was great- you couldn't gain weight past your design) Vanellope gestured for Candlehead to come down, since the little show was over.

Candlehead looked distressed, as if scared of jumping off. Vanellope motioned for her to come down again with a hand. She wouldn't be hurt; for goodness sake, if she could jump high enough to get up there, then there was no way it would harm her going down.

Suddenly Ralph's voice came from beside her "I got this, kid." He strode over, suddenly prideful of his height. The cake was only slightly taller than he was. His palm open, he leveled it so Candlehead could use his hand as a sort of elevator.

"Oh thank you." Candlehead jumped over into the villain's freakishly large hand without hesitation. She found it hard to keep her balance, swaying with her arms moving out at the sides.

"Careful now." worried Ralph. Vanellope would slaughter him later if she fell.

Finally, the minty girl could find the ground again. Vanellope smiled up at Ralph, but as Candlehead jumped off, she ended up tripping and fell right into her president, giving a cry. Her arms came forward in an instinct to keep from falling. Little hands gripped into Vanellope's hoodie as she tried hard to not end up pushing both of them over.

Ralph raised an eyebrow, and Vanellope's face was burning up; she felt like she was just set on fire. This was _really _awkward. "I'm gonna. ." Ralph backed away quickly to go distract himself elsewhere.

"I'm sorry!" Candlehead squeaked, ripping herself off. Her face was just as red as Vanellope's; how embarrassing! "I-I-I. ." Vanellope looked in utter shock- she could almost faint!

"You gotta, uh." Candlehead didn't let Vanellope finish, biting a lip and trotting away in hopes to drive off her embarrassment. Out of sight, out of mind right? She would get a little cake and Vanellope would wave off what just happened. Yeah. That's a good plan.

"Gotta watch your step." Vanellope's appetite had long since wandered away.

* * *

**_Getting kinda cheesy, I think. Your opinion? Any suggestions you could give me? Also, sorry it's sorta short!_**


	6. Truth or Dare?

_**I didn't like how short my chapters were, tried to make this one longer. **_

* * *

"To be honest," the fancy voice of Crumbelina began "I think Rancis could stand to up his game a little better. He's not as amazing as he says he is, you know. On the race track and personally, too."

"He's a better racer than you!" Taffyta was angry now; Rancis FluggerButter was one of her best friends. She wouldn't let that stuck up brat drag his name through the mud.

"Ha!" she scoffed, fluffing her untied hair "You wish, MuttonFudge. You act like he's some big deal when really he's just-"

"Enough arguing!" With little balled fists, Candlehead- who had been sitting with the two when they began to argue- had enough. She couldn't stand it. To be truthful though, she really didn't like Crumbelina saying such things about Rancis either. She was his friend too, though not as close to him as Taffyta.

There was a pause as the two looked at her. Suddenly, Crumbelina smirked, then stood up. "You know I'm right. You're just angry because you like him, MuttonFudge." with that, she stuck her nose up and walked away.

All the boys had gone home. It was at least ten at night, and the girls had the palace to themselves with the exception of Sour Bill and a few male servants. They were sure to stay out of the way. Everyone was situated in Vanellope's humongous room, clumped in to small chattering groups. They were all dressed in night attire; ranging from gowns to sleep shirts and pajamas.

There was a large blanket spread across the floor with the marshmallows dragged in from the lounge. Eight total girls were staying, counting Vanellope von Schweetz, and five of the girls occupied opposite sides of the soft blanket as of now. This included Candlehead and Taffyta.

"I can't stand her! That- that-"

"Stupid head!" Candlehead finished.

"What? No that's a horrible insult."

Suddenly there was a nudge from behind, startling Taffyta for a moment. She tipped her head back just to see her president standing over her. She was in her pajamas like the others, wearing a pink top with blue cupcakes and matching shorts.

"What's a horrible insult? Who're you insulting?" It was an honest question.

"That spoiled Crumbelina!" Candlehead grumped, finding it hard to even look at Vanellope after the earlier incident. Vanellope walked around and sat with them on the blanket. She removed some hair from her face; it could get a little messy when she didn't have it up, but it was nice to let her hair down every once in a while.

"Oh why, what'd she do?"

"She was talking like she could beat Rancis in a race. Remind me- how many times has she won?" Taffyta could go on about this all day.

"I don't know, I don't really care." shrugged Vanellope, looking back to see what everyone else was doing. One of the girls- Minty Zaki- was messing around with the stuff in Vanellope's rarely used vanity table.

Suddenly, something came to mind. "Hey, didn't you wanna do truth or dare?" she turned back to face Taffyta. Vanellope was having just as hard a time acknowledging Candlehead as Candlehead was acknowledging her. They both could feel the thick air of childish awkwardness, which was invisible to Taffyta.

"Yeah. Let's do that! I'm going to make Crumbelina do something _really_ gross. We'll see who's right then. . that _stupid head_."

* * *

Playing truth or dare was extremely entertaining, especially with eight players! Snowanna Rainboeau had come up with the most delicious idea; _prank calling. _The notion was both a little daring and exciting, rolled into one and bursting with flavor.

"I dare yoooouuu" she exaggerated her voice while all the young girls stared at the victim- Jubileena. "To prank caaall. . Gloyd Orangeboar!"

"And tell him you loooove him!" added Adorabeezle Winterpop quickly, almost shaking where she sat in the circle, getting giggles from the others. Jubileena looked slightly shocked.

"B-b-but what if he thinks I'm serious!" she stuttered.

"Well duhhh, that's the whole point." remarked Taffyta, looking rather evil in Jubileena's opinion.

Vanellope did the honors of lending them a wireless phone made out of something-or-other. The circle of jittering girls felt like it was closing in on Jubileena; she didn't want to get on anyone's bad side! Reluctantly, she finally dialed Gloyd's number.

"_Hello?" _came his voice over the line, after a short wait.

"Uhh hi." Everyone tried to keep quiet, though most failed miserably.

"_This says you're calling from the palace. Which girl is this?"_ Gloyd sighed over the line. He was much too clever sometimes.

Jubileena put a hand over the phone a moment. "He's onto us!" she whispered in panic, then returned to speaking to him. "This isssss. ."

"Tell him it's Vanellope!" Adorabeezle suggested, getting a grumpy look from the president.

"Vanellope! Vanellope von Schweetz!" Jubileena replied with a little too much enthusiasm. Her expression suddenly dampened when she saw the glare Vanellope was giving her.

"_Vanellope? And I suppose you're going to tell me you like me now, right?"_

Jubileena looked dumbfound; what was she supposed to do now? Everyone was listening expectantly.

"Nooo I. ." she looked around at the faces that surrounded her. ". .was going to tell you that Snowanna wants to go out with you okay bye!" she hung up and tossed the phone into the middle, as if it was on fire and giggling like the child she was.

Laughter filled the room and Snowanna covered her face. "Now he thinks _I _like him! Thanks a lot!"

"Ha, backfired didn't it!" she finally got out after a long fit of laughter. Gloyd probably wouldn't believe her, anyways, so it didn't matter much.

After everyone finally settled down, it was Taffyta's turn. She eyed the others with a satisfied smile, loving being in command. Now it was time for Crumbelina to pay for what she said earlier.

"Truth or dare?"

Crumbelina was too proud to say truth to _her. _"Dare."

"Hmmmm." Taffyta pretended to think, tapping on her chin. She already had something so terrible and nasty that Crumbelina would be scarred for life.

"Hit me with your best shot, MuttonFudge! I can take whatever you throw at me!" she boasted loudly.

"Oh really?" Taffyta said mockingly. Her eyes suddenly shifted to Minty. "I dare you to _kiss_ Minty."

There was a collective gasp, the green girl looked like she could die right then and there. "Wh-what?" she stammered.

"You can't make me do that! She's- she's- well she's not a boy!"

"You gotta problem with that? Too _chicken?_" Taffyta then proceeded to mimic the feathered beast, bobbing her head and flapping her arms with clucking sounds to match. It earned a few laughs, helping ease the shock of the dare. Vanellope on the other hand, was still looking a little pale.

Crumbelina's face became shaded a bright crimson in her anger. "I'm no _Cluckle_!" She looked puffed up and tense, giving a hard stare at a rather frightened looking Minty Zaki.

The room was dead silent as Crumbelina rose to her feet and stomped the short distance to where Minty was sitting. She seemed hesitant, but after a few more teasing clucks from Taffyta, gave in to the pressure.

She leaned over, grabbed the girl by the shoulders, and planted a hard quick kiss to the girls mouth. Hardly a second later the two repelled in opposite directions, like same sided magnets.

"Ewwwww!" they screamed in unison, while everyone else found it hilarious that they were so disgusted.

"Grossss!" Adorabeezle agreed, though she was beaming; she had her eyes covered but was peeking anyways.

Vanellope had her knees up to her chest, and was laughing silently with them. Crumbelina really did deserve that; poor Minty, though!

Crumbelina was scraping at her tongue with her fingernails, on her knees in her original spot of the blanket. She looked extremely displeased; Taffyta would pay on the racetrack, come tomorrow.

"Oh-kay," Crumbelina mumbled, wiping her mouth and shuttering. Minty had her back turned to them, obviously embarrassed and too grossed out so show her face.

"Since I had to do. . _that,_ it should be my turn now." No one really objected. "Who is my victim?"

Vanellope rose her hand, head laying on top of her knees.

"Miss Schweetz, truth or dare?"

"Truth." After what had just happened, she did _not _want to say dare!

"Oh that's no fun, but if you insist. Is it true that you pick favorites?"

Vanellope lifted up her head. "Pick favorites?"

"Oh yes, I heard you give sooome people special treatment." Suddenly Taffyta looked annoyed, crossing her arms.

"Why would I do that?"

Taffyta's voice burst out of nowhere "I don't know, maybe because you think they're better than me when they're clearly_ not_._" _She glared poison, then looked a little sorry and covered her mouth, breaking eye contact.

Vanellope looked irritated; she was confused. Then it came to her- _the cake. _The way Taffyta had been acting towards Candlehead had suddenly made sense. She had been jealous that Candlehead was going to be in the limelight!

Candlehead looked back and forth between them. She felt bad- had she really been the cause of this? She hadn't even enjoyed the attention as much as she expected- if she had known that then, she would have suggested Taffyta be on top instead!

"Is that true, Vanellope?" finally came Crumbelina, even more curious than before.

"Of course not! We just. . needed a candle and Candlehead obviously would look good up on a _mint chocolate_ cake. Don't be so selfish Taffyta."

The strawberry pink girl looked as if she was growing more and more frustrated with every word, but didn't say anything more. She hadn't meant to say anything in the first place; it just sort of poured out.

"This is getting interesting." mused Crumbelina to herself, shifting to a more comfortable position. Before she could say anymore, a low voice broke the awkward silence.

"I haven't had a turn." It was Minty, who had finally turned to face the group again after composing herself. She gave a small smile, trying to get back into a more bouncy mood.

"Y'gotta ask Candlehead." Jubileena mentioned, motioning toward the girl.

Candlehead had actually taken her hat off; she was so attached to it that it was unusual to see her without it on! It almost felt unnatural; like seeing a poodle with no fur.

"I'm ready!" She beamed in excitement, wiggling where she sat.

"Truth or-"

"Dare!"

"Alright." Minty seemed torn, eying the soft blanket under her feet for what felt like hours. "I dare you to. . well."

"What, something got your tongue?" joked Vanellope. "Or should I say _someone_?" That earned a few laughs, and painted girlish expressions of delight on (almost) everyone's faces. It was ironic, since after all, Vanellope had a crush on a female.

Minty looked up in utter disgust, face burning red again after she just seemed to calm it moments before. "Yuck!" her nose scrunched up. Crumbelina sank back a little, sticking out her tongue and shaking her head.

"See how you like it, Vanellope!" Minty exclaimed, turning a hard stare on Candlehead. "I dare you to kiss Vanellope von Schweetz! And on the mouth too!" She grinned in triumph, snickering at the shocked expressions.

_Kiss the president? _Is that even legal?

The bright eyes of the children seemed to flash back and forth between the two; both looked rather hopeless. Vanellope didn't say a word, mouth gaped and heart pounding out of her chest.

"Vanellope?" Candlehead finally asked, voice a little shaky. She honestly hadn't expected anyone to do a kiss dare again. "Do I have to?"

"Yes you have to!" Minty became angry, leaning forward.

"Yeah cause Crumbelina did it. You can't back out of a dare!" added Taffyta directly after. She wanted to see Candlehead squirm like Crumbelina had earlier.

"Vanellope?" worried Candlehead again. She was still being quiet.

"Oh, and make it where they have to do it longer than before!" suggested Crumbelina, arms crossed.

Minty looked pleased; this was a lot more fun when it wasn't happening to her! "Yeeeahhh, you have to kiss. On the mouth. For. . ummm. . three seconds!"

"Four!" yelled Snowanna.

"_Four_ seconds!" agreed Minty.

_Glitch. _

"Come oonnn guys," Vanellope finally spoke, obviously nervous. "It's not like we haven't seen kissing before or anything I mean it's just- putting your mouths together and. . stuff." she shuttered, scrunching her face and glancing discreetly at Candlehead.

"Oh, so the president's scared to make a little contact with her subjects?" came Crumbelina condescendingly.

"Ew don't make it sounds so icky!" Jubileena grossed out, making Crumbelina roll her eyes.

"No it's just. ." she was starting to feel caved in on; lost and alone. She liked Candlehead- she liked her a lot. But she didn't want to _kiss_ her in front of all her other female peers! That was like, third base to a twelve year old! Technically she would be thirteen now, however no matter her age she would always retain the personality and appearance of a twelve year old.

Vanellope was shaky and glitched up a second time, though motioned for Candlehead to come with a finger.

"So I gotta do it?" asked Candlehead for what felt like the thousandth time.

"_Yes._" replied Minty sternly, also getting a small nod from Vanellope. A dare was a dare.

Candlehead scooted across to the middle, seemingly refusing to move any further and forcing Vanellope to meet her half way.

There was anxious hesitation from them, body heat expelled from their flushed skin; the heat of embarrassment and the experience they all lacked in Sugar Rush.

Candlehead found it hard to look the black haired girl in the eye, glancing off and slightly curled into herself. "I guess we gotta. ."

Vanellope lifted Candlehead's chin with a finger, drawing her green eyes up to her own amber ones. Her coding began to flicker unintentionally, spreading from her hand into Candlehead and making them both a blinking show of ones and zeros.

"They're actually going to do it!" whispered Jubileena, nudging Taffyta.

"Bet you they won't last the four seconds." Taffyta remarked, leaning backwards slightly, finding it hard to look.

With a childish awkwardness, Vanellope moved in to meet Candlehead's lips. It was closed mouth of course, and spread a tingling sensation through Vanellope. Her eyes had closed and formed a distressed expression, while Candlehead's relaxed rather quickly. This wasn't half bad.

The glitching continued the full four seconds until they parted hastily, and despite the short time, made them feel a little breathless. The two held no grudges toward each other; it was more sensitive than when Crumbelina and Minty had been forced to kiss.

Loud giggling filled the room, many had their faces covered up and were rolling on the floor. Whether the reaction was because they found it gross or cute was unknown.

"I can't believe you guys actually did it!" Minty said, who then proceeded to pull up a marshmallow pillow to squeeze. She sank her face into the sweet fluffy treat to try and contain her laughter and sqeaking.

Vanellope didn't know what to think; she chucked nervously finding her friends laughter infectious. She smiled, deciding to take this positively and calm down her bothersome glitching. Not only had she just kissed Candlehead- but she got a good laugh from everyone! All except Candlehead of course, who hadn't moved an inch.

She was covering her face sheepishly, head down. The girl was a little- if not a lot more- shier than Vanellope von Schweetz was. In her kart Candlehead was rambunctious and would gloat with pride, but in this setting things were much different.

"You okay Candlehead?" finally asked Adorabeezle after getting out all her amusement.

"Yeah come on don't be so sensitive we're not laughing _at_ you!" commented Jubileena after wards, though that was an obvious lie.

"Yes we are! Hahaha!" Taffyta pointed, grinning. She received a death glare from Vanellope. Taffyta wasn't usually so mean- at least not since she became their leader again.

Candlehead rubbed at her eyes; and looked up with a pout. She refused to give anyone eye contact, but at least Vanellope could see her face again.

"What's your problem, Taffyta?" Suddenly Vanellope began to wonder if that perhaps since Taffyta didn't have her to throw insults at anymore, that she was projecting them on Candlehead as a second option. "I swear if you make fun of her one more time. . I'll do something you'll regret!"

That shut her up- and as well seemed to make Candlehead smile.

"Don't be so mean Taffyta!" Snowanna demanded, scooting over were Candlehead and Vanellope still sat in the middle. "Oh, it's okay sweetheart. She's just jealous of your pretty face. We don't mean nothin' by teasing you."

"Uh-huh, and if it helps, you kiss well!" beamed Vanellope, who realized maybe that sounded a little too affectionate. Maybe a little weird, too. It wasn't like she had any previous kisses to compare it to, but it was the first thing that came to her mind. It still got an odd look from Snowanna.

Candlehead smiled up at Snowanna, glad to have someone to put her at ease. Snowanna was a nice girl to almost anyone. In her opinion, she was nicer than Jubileena sometimes. At Vanellope's attempt to cheer her up, however, she found herself more flustered than helped.

"Thanks guys." she said slightly above a whisper, big green eyes staring at Vanellope. Vanellope stared back, twitching.

"Whose turn is it now?" asked Minty who had lifted her head from the pillow.

"I think it's Adorabeezle's." Snowanna moved back to her spot after patting Candlehead on the shoulder.

"Wanna sit by me?" asked Vanellope while the other girls began to start another round. They needed to move out of the middle.

The girl hesitated. "Mhm." she still looked a little put down in embarrassment, but would get over it in a few minutes, like Minty had.

With that, Vanellope scooted backwards and allowed Candlehead to sit beside her, where they leaned up against one of the marshmallow pillows.

Candlehead sat a little too close, prompting a dorky grin from Vanellope.

* * *

_**I tried to have the usual fun had at younger kids sleep overs. I as well don't think the girls would always be so buddy-buddy, I mean they're competitive, and even though Vanellope is their 'princess' they're still 12 year olds and all!**_

_**I'd appreciate if you would comment on whether the chapter strays too far, if the bratty arguments in this one are unnecessary and if it's believable enough. Not only believable for the characters, but for how the story has played out before hand too, leading to this. Please and thank you! c:**_

_**Oh, and as always, I'd just love it if you'd point out any mistakes I missed!**_

_**edit; **I would also like to apologies for the sappiness. I had to do _something_ to get it out there. Not the best idea. I only have one person who is willing to read it over and help me, but even he's not the best critiquer (i think he just tries to flatter me). I'd like to improve, please do try and make your "reviews" a little less vague so I can get better and stop being so lame and dramatic. :c_

_My heart pounds with anxiety every time I see I've a new review. _


	7. Be Honest

It was nearing twelve, and three of the girls has passed out all ready. It wouldn't be much longer before the others did, too. Usually the latest anyone would go to sleep would be eleven so they could feel good for the races, but this was a special event so why not have some fun?

Adorabeezle lay on her stomach in an awkward position, sprawled in the middle of Vanellope's huge bed. She snored lightly, but not loud enough to disturb anyone.

Crumbelina was purposely curled up on the blanket in the middle, covered up by a corner. She could have asked for a separate blanket, but didn't think to request it.

The last of the sleeping beauties was Jubileena, who had fallen asleep unintentionally while lounging on a marshmallow. She sucked her thumb in her sleep; a little odd for a twelve year old. Occasionally a limb would jump, as if she were about to wake, but she never did.

The others were having fun messing with the accessories that Vanellope never touched. Putting on bows and necklaces, and there was even fingernail polish that the girly girls were playing with. Mainly Snowanna and Taffyta.

It was odd; the short kiss pressured onto Candlehead and Vanellope hadn't hurt their relationship. It felt more like closure, in a weird sort of way. Closure from all the attention Vanellope had tried so hard to shower Candlehead with. They hadn't mentioned the kiss anymore after it happened, however. It felt too awkward to bring up.

They sat on the blanket, and Vanellope quietly combed through Candlehead's untied green hair at her request. The relaxed air around the two made Candlehead begin to nod off, though she was trying hard to not be swayed into sleep by the feeling. For once, staring at the candle on her hat wasn't putting her in a wide-eyed trance.

"Y'getting sleepy?" asked Vanellope, who nudged her lightly on the back with a little hand, receiving a twitch from the other.

"Nooo." she lied, leaning forward with closed eyes.

"Maybe we should do something else." Vanellope was still a little nervous, to be honest. She had her glitching under control though, so it shouldn't cause her too much distress the rest of the night.

"Like what?" Candlehead's eyes opened slowly, holding back a yawn.

"I don't know. I don't want my nails painted." she gave a glance at Taffyta who was currently coating Snowanna's nails a shade of pink.

Candlehead turned to face her, but scooted back a little. Face-to-face contact felt awkward still, especially now that Vanellope stopped combing her hair, which had felt nice. She set her hat off to the side, pulling her drowsy eyes from the flame.

There was a feeling in Candlehead's gut- a feeling she wasn't sure she should act upon. An inkling she received after the kiss; the president liked her _much_ more than she thought. She was certain of it!

"Maybe we could go find someone to bother." suggested Vanellope, thinking of her sleeping servants. Someone had to be up at all times, so a few were probably still attending to things.

"I'm hungry." suddenly whined Candlehead, still looking a little tired.

There was a pause, before Vanellope stood up. "I'mma get some snacks."

"I'm coming too!" she exclaimed, using an offered hand to get up on her bare feet.

"Hey!" yelled Minty, who had several small bows of various colors in her hair. She was sitting off alone, picking through other hair accessories. "Bring me back some cake will'ya?"

"You getting food?" asked Taffyta at the mention of cake.

"Eeeeyup."

"Get me some of those fruity muffins you got."

Vanellope was giving her a dirty look, still sore form her bad attitude only a few hours earlier. "Whatever."

"I'll take some too, please and thank you!" called Snowanna as Vanellope walked out the door with Candlehead trailing behind.

The two walked down into the wide hallway, bare feet cold on the floor. Candlehead trotted to walk beside her, but often ended up slipping behind.

"You want anything?" asked Vanellope.

"Just some cake." she nodded with a smile, fingers feeling over her soft green hair. "You picked out the best flavor!"

They came to the kitchen, where the last of the cake had been wheeled to on its table. Only a small portion of the last layer had remained. Most of the food had been consumed during the early hours of the party, but there would always be plenty left. It was a palace, after all!

There were no servants in the room, which was odd since it felt like it could use a good scrub down!

"Candlehead, what if I said come tomorrow, you could keep all the un-eaten cake?"

Her face lit up, bouncing slightly on her toes. "Really?" she looked in awe at the leftover cake. "_ALL_ that cake? I can really take it home?"

"Every last crumb!"

"Ohhh thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she tackled her, squeezing the president like a life sized teddy bear. she nuzzled lightly, giggling in excitement before letting go to continue staring at the cake. Vanellope was shaken a moment, before containing any nervousness quickly.

"You going to get some then?" She asked, going to cut a piece for Minty Zaki.

"Oh- right!"

As she hopped over and took a large pre-cut slice, she began to think. The two were alone. A question was eating at her mind; she would simply burst if she didn't ask it now.

"Hey, Vanellope. ." she pondered, as Vanellope tiredly shuffled to a counter to scoop up a few muffins from their containers.

"Yeah?"

"Why're you so nice to me when I was so mean to you before?" it sounded profound, coming from Candlehead.

The raven haired girl froze a moment, turning from the counter and giving her an unreadable expression. "I'm nice to everyone. _Almost._"

"Not Taffyta, or Crumbelina sometimes!"

"Well that's because they're not very nice either. Taffyta needs to shut her pie-hole!"

Candlehead sighed and looked off. "But. ."

Vanellope could tell that Candlehead knew something was up. She was looking a little disappointed.

"You okay?"

"I could have sworn," she seemed to be struggling with the words. "that you could possibly- well never mind. It's nothin'- it's nothin'!" She waved a hand, dismissively.

Vanellope tilted her head and leaned against the counter. She searched for something to say, but the shock of what Candlehead was implying had covered her mind in a numb, deserted wasteland. Void of words to pull into existence; to express out loud towards that cute, bumbling girl.

After another silence and what felt like hours, Vanellope's brain (or artificial brain) began to form sentences again. "We sh-sh-should probably head back." she motioned towards Candlehead's untouched slice of cake "Before you lose you appetite or somethin'."

Candlehead sighed, head resting in her palm, supported by her elbow upon a table. "Alright." Her voice sounded a little distant. She had been expecting something completely different, and when confronting her, Vanellope had waved her off as if earlier events between the two never happened.

This proved again, that Candlehead was an utter idiot.

What was she doing here; what was she doing alone with this feisty, _glitch_ of a girl.

"Come on." with the muffins carefully situated with the mint cake on the plate, Vanellope started back for her room. Hesitantly, Candlehead followed after, bringing along her cake despite being unknowing to whether she could still eat it or not.

By the time the two had returned, Minty had curled up on the bed with Adorabeezle, though it looked as if she had forced Adorabeezle to the edge of the bed despite how big it was. Taffyta and Snowanna had separated, likely having had an argument about Taffyta's attitude.

Taffyta was fiddling with the brush Vanellope had used on Candlehead before, and Snowanna had taken Minty's spot where a small pile of jewelry and accessories lay dumped on the floor. She looked about ready to crawl up on the bed with the other two.

"We're gone for like, five minutes, and everybody just dies on me?" came Vanellope, teasing.

Snowanna perked up a little. "I'm awake!" she proclaimed, though obvious drowsiness was in her voice.

Vanellope rolled her eyes."Who's going to eat this cake now?" she glanced over at the sleeping Minty Zaki.

Snowanna shrugged, glaring at Taffyta who had jumped up to fetch a few of the fruit muffins. "I just love these things!" she commented, taking two out of the six on the plate. They were small, so it was easy to fit them all on with the cake.

Vanellope went over and allowed Snowanna some, too. There was only one left after she had taken what she wanted. Candlehead hadn't said a word, leaning up against a leg of the bed, only having touched a small portion of the cake. She poked at it distantly with a fork.

After setting the plate down on a table beside her bed, Vanellope walked over and stood over the green haired girl. She tilted her head, giving a quizzical expression. "I thought you were hungry?"

"I was. I guess." she sat the rest of the cake beside her, crossing her arms. After rubbing her eyes, she looked up and gave a yawn. "I'm gonna fall asleep." she said lowly.

Vanellope bit her bottom lip, shifting her balance on one leg. There was a hint of sadness in Candlehead's tone, utterly breaking Vanellope's heart. "Somethin' bothering you?" she finally asked, sitting down in front of her with her legs folded under. Maybe she was still upset by whatever it was she wanted to say in the kitchen?

There was a pause, before she broke eye contact. "Kinda. I feel so. . silly. Be honest Vanellope, do you think I'm smart?"

It was true Candlehead was probably one of the dullest of the Sugar Rush characters, but she made up for it in creativity, pep, and over all loyalty. It's what made her love her king before, and love her president now.

"Yeah, I think so." she dropped her voice to a whisper. "Just between you and me, I think everyone is a little smarter than _Taffyta._ I don't know why you stand to be friends with her when she makes fun of you so much."

Candlehead gave a small smile, shrugging and looking back at her. "I'unno. I guess cause I want someone to follow. I'm a great racer but I don't think I make the best decisions for myself." The confession made her blush in bashfulness; to admit that maybe she wasn't the best person when she was alone was new.

"You should start trying to make big decisions for yourself, Candlehead. Or _at least_ follow someone better."

She scrunched up her face in thought. "Like who?"

"Weeeell," Vanellope said, smug "like _me,_ for example." she poked herself on the chest, a huge smirk painted over her face.

Again, Candlehead got the feeling her president was implying something more. Or maybe she was just thinking stupidly again. She found her face burning pink anyways, a smile returning Vanellope's way. "Okay." she nodded.

"What?" questioned Vanellope. "You serious?" she seemed slightly shocked.

Suddenly there was an interruption. "One of you going to eat this cake?" asked Taffyta, over by the table with the cake that was originally for Minty Zaki.

Vanellope looked up and shook her head, changing her position on the floor so her legs wouldn't go numb. "You can have it."

Taffyta took the plate and headed to her spot to eat it. Watching, Vanellope noticed Snowanna had passed out the edge of the blanket, muffin wrappers littered around her. She sighed, the sight making her tired. She scooted over to sit beside Candlehead rather than in front of her, leaning her head back on the bed.

"Sooo. . I can follow you then?" came Candlehead quietly, turned slightly to face her now.

"What would that mean?"

Candlehead thought a second, looking off. "We can do stuff together like me Taffyta and Rancis used to do?" she then promptly turned to cover the tip of her finger in her cake's icing, before popping it in her mouth.

"I seriously can't believe you're going to let me keep all the left over cake." she suddenly said off topic, licking her lips.

The change of pace caught her off guard. "Oh well, yeah." Vanellope shrugged. "It is your favorite, after all!"

Candlehead stared at her, beaming. "You're so sweet. Or- schweet."

Vanellope's face burned, and she giggled at the pun. "Don't y'be gettin' all sappy." she playfully shoved her, shaking. Her nervousness was coming back to her.

"_And_ you're pretty, too." Candlehead added, amused by Vanellope's flustered response. "No wonder why you're our president!"

"You two aren't going to kiss again, are you?" said Taffyta from across the room, hat off and putting in a few clips. She looked disgusted, and had only left crumbs on her plate. "You know Candlehead isn't anywhere near royalty- and she's a girl!"

"Can it, cavity!" Vanellope glared, looking about ready to pick up Candlehead's hardly touched cake and sling it over into Taffyta's face. "I'm not a princess- I'm the _president_. P-R-E-Z-A-D-I-N-T." Though her spelling was atrocious, the message got through.

"How come you don't like Rancis? I wish he'd like _me_."

Candlehead bit at a nail while they argued.

"Because, maybe I like someone else, ever think of that? I wish you didn't try to be such a smarty pants all the time."

"Who, Gloyd?"

Candlehead poked at Vanellope's arm, gaining her attention. Under her green eyes, Vanellope's anger soon melted. "You don't have to say nothin' to her about anything!"

Vanellope sighed loudly and nodded, looking back only to stick her tongue out.

"Not talking, huh?" Taffyta continued to prod. "Why, is it a big secret or something?"

Vanellope choose to ignore her.

"Whatever. You two can whisper over there all you want._ I'm_ going to sleep. And I'm going to kick your butt tomorrow in the races!" Vanellope rolled her eyes, not bothering to look. Taffyta stood up with her plate, sat it down up on a table, then crawled up into Vanellope's bed between Adorabeezle and Minty.

"You still sleepy?" Vanellope asked Candlehead, as the girl stood and stretched. She combed through her hair with a hand and let out a long breath of air.

"A little."

There was a long silence as Vanellope found herself batting away sleep. She did not want to go to bed, unless Candlehead fell asleep first. Even if staying up so late would ruin her energy on the tracks tomorrow.

Candlehead took her plate with the still whole slice of cake and sat it upon Taffyta's empty one. She yawned and swayed, awkwardly shuffling over to lay face first in the middle of the blanket. "Mm gon guh sluup." she mumbled, eyes closed and toes curling.

"Huh?"

She lifted her head a little. "I'm gonna go sleep." her head, without hesitation, nuzzled back into the blanket.

Something was chewing at Vanellope's insides; she wanted to say something. The two were both about to pass out, and before the night was over- she just had to confess. _She just had to._

"W-wait." she stuttered, fiddling with her hands. She sounded unsure of herself.

"Mmm?" Candlehead rolled over onto her back, eyes still closed.

"I wanna. ."

Candlehead waited for her to continue, peeking open a heavy eye.

"I wanna tell you something." she thought she had her glitching under control, but apparently she didn't.

* * *

_**Not much action in this chapter, sorry! Just a bit of drowsy eyed girls eatin' food and derping around. Fun :u**_

_**Not to mention the feels. ALL the feels.**_


	8. Dreamy

She had taken her out into the hall. Vanellope did not want to risk the others overhearing, just in case someone woke up. Taffyta likely was only half way in dreamland, and she couldn't have her overhearing _at all._

If things went as planned, there would be no need for secrets, though.

The two walked aimlessly down the brightly colored halls; lights were lit in the halls at all times. Candlehead was having trouble keeping up in her drowsiness, and Vanellope had yet to say a word.

"What did you wanna tell me?" she asked softly, trying hard to walk along side her. Vanellope slowed her pace down to help her keep up, sighing and refusing to look at her.

She still kept silent, and the silence was going to destroy Candlehead with curiosity. "Where are we going? You going to show me something?"

Vanellope shrugged. "I'unno. We're just walking. Had enough of sitting around, I need to move."

The girl was being uncharacteristically shy, and Candlehead was getting anxious. Not to mention the fact she felt as if she were being watched. It was creepy. "If you ain't gonna _tell_ me nothing, can we just go back? It's kinda cold out here."

No response. Candlehead sighed, rubbing her eyes. She glanced over her shoulder, a 'clink' far behind them, as if something small and hard had fallen to the candy floor. The little noise drifted down the hall, and Candlehead glared. Someone was following them. She was probably just being stupid again- one of the servants must be down the hall doing something.

A hand drove her out of her musings, gentle fingers curling around her own. She turned her head back and smiled dumbly at Vanellope, quickly losing interest in the thought of being spied on by peers, servants, or otherwise.

Though holding hands was not unusual between close friends, it gave her the most amazing sensation; tingling through her warm hand and arm.

They walked in silence, swinging their entwined hands and following the twisting hallway. Finally, Vanellope just jerked to a stop. "I'm nervous." she mentioned right off. "About this."

Candlehead tilted her head and faced her, eyebrows furrowing with confusion and concern. "About what?"

"About what I wanna tell you."

Candlehead grimaced. "Is it bad? Did I do something wrong; am I in trouble?"

This made Vanellope laugh, in turn Candlehead laughed, too. "No- no, Candlehead, you didn't do anything. Well- you didn't do anything _bad._"

She looked relieved, slumping a little. Vanellope now had a silly looking smile, glancing down at her feet. She took a tiny step closer before looking back up, finding a matching expression on Candlehead. Candlehead then promptly turned her head to stare down the long hall, biting a lip.

Vanellope stared at her "What'er you looking at?" she turned her gaze towards the direction Candlehead seemed fixed on. It was the way they had came before.

"Shhhh." she hushed her. She listened intently, waiting for a sight or sound of a very bad spy to prove to her she wasn't just being silly. She thought she heard something else.

"What?" another silent moment went by.

"Nothin'. Are you. . are you finally going to tell me?" she prodded, shaking away the suspicion and returning her gaze to the girl in front of her.

Vanellope gave her an odd look, before breathing a shaky breath and nodding; smile painted over her face. "I think I will!"

A small burst of courage surged through her small body, and as she took Candlehead's other hand in her single free one, she leaned forward and kissed her right on the lips.

Not expecting it, Candlehead felt in shock, squeezing her eyes closed and Vanellope's hands in her own. This was what she took her out alone for? Not only that; but she had been right! She knew Vanellope was hiding something- oh, and it felt _lovely_, too.

The kiss earlier was forced and a little weird, but this was so much better. It was soft, tender, and warmed her to her core; she melted. Somewhere in the breathless silence, there truly _was_ a sound. She didn't care, and ignored it.

Vanellope held it for much longer than than four seconds, but when she finally parted from the now glowing Candlehead, she found the girl refusing to step away. Candlehead giggled and wrapped her arms around Vanellope- who was both embarrassed and surprised.

"I knew it- IknewitIknewitIknewit!" she gloated, squeezing harder. Vanellope hardly had room to hug back- Candlehead's arms were clamped tightly down on her, pinning her arms to her sides. Somehow she was able to awkwardly hug back, placing her head on her shoulder.

It was weird how Candlehead wasn't grossed out; actually, this was great! Vanellope looked slightly intoxicated, taking in deep breaths to fill her lunges with the indulgent smell of mint, with a hint of chocolate.

Suddenly there was a little gasp from Candlehead, who pulled away enough to look at her. "Wait- oh Vanellope," she sighed, shaking her head "if you had said something before, I. ."

"Yeah. I've had a crush on you for a long time." her eyes looked off, finding it weird to finally say it out loud.

"Well, I, um." Candlehead stuttered, letting her arms drop back to her sides. She stepped away and swayed a bit. "I kinda like you too, Miss President."

Despite the cold of the long hallways, the two beamed with girlish warmth. Vanellope sputtered and waved a hand "Oh- well, y'know, you're all. . nice and- your faaast, and bee-e-cute." her stuttering was amusing, and Candlehead had to keep from giggling. "How can I _not _like you?"

"Oh, you're too sweet!" she twirled her gown slightly.

They stood there a moment, letting the thick air of affection settle. "You. . wanna head back?" suggested Vanellope.

"Okie-dokie!" instantly, Candlehead clasped Vanellope's hand, and the two started back for the bedroom. There came the light pitter patter of bare feet softly moving away down the hall, where they were walking towards now. Neither seemed to think much of it, though.

The silence between the two- in contrast to the silence earlier- was nice. It was filled with thoughts of _"what next"_ and sudden blooming adoration from Candlehead. Vanellope was truly an amazing president, in more ways than one. They both knew that from then on out, they'd be spending a lot more time together. As friends, as equals, and likely as something more.

As they rounded the corner, however, Vanellope found herself having to pick up a lost hair clip. It was one of hers, though she never wore it. She turned it over in her free hand, face scrunched up. "Weird."

"I guess someone dropped it earlier."

"It wasn't here before, Candlehead." Vanellope scowled at the colorful peppermint replica.

"Oh, right! You know, now that I think of it, I _thought_ I heard something fall on the floor a minute ago."

"Yeah." Vanellope looked up from the item a moment, before glancing at Candlehead. "I think we where being watched."

Candlehead seemed shocked, shifting weight on her legs nervously and looking around. "B-by who?"

"I'unno. Who was wearing this clip?"

Candlehead took in the clip, letting her mind wander to when Vanellope's untouched accessories had been dumped into the floor. She couldn't remember very much, since she hadn't paid much attention, but she was sure of at least two; Minty Zaki and Taffyta MuttonFudge. Who wore the exact clip, though, she was unsure.

"I guess Minty or Taffyta."

"Oh fudge." cursed Vanellope; if Taffyta had seen them, it was all over. She would rub it in her face that president Schweetz had made goo goo eyes at Candlehead in the hallway. Not that it was a bad thing- but if Taffyta spread it around like a rumor, it was less likely to be accepted. It wasn't the scandal Taffyta would likely make it out to be.

She could hear them now; _Vanellope and Candlehead head, sittin' in a tree. ._

Then again, what if it were Minty who saw them? Would she tell anyone? Then if she did- how would the others react? It didn't matter. If either one of the two girls said a word, Vanellope would put her foot down and have to get rough. No one- and Vanellope means NO ONE- was going to tease them. She was less worried about herself, though, and more worried for Candlehead. Perhaps making fun of the president was uncalled for, but Candlehead was open game.

"Come on." Vanellope half way drug Candlehead with her back to the room. The lights where out and everyone appeared to be fast asleep, but Vanellope was much more clever than that. Someone had to be faking. There wasn't anything she could do, though, not at the risk of getting the secret out too early.

She wanted to tell everyone on her own time. Step one- confess to Candlehead. Step two- ask her out; make it official. Step three- make it public. She was only on step one!

Candlehead looked distressed. She whispered "What do we do?"

Vanellope sighed and shrugged. "Nothing. For now." Candlehead nodded. Then, Vanellope fetched an extra blanket, and the two reluctantly settled down for the night.

Sleep didn't find them easy, after the intense confession in the hall. With the lights out, the two shared the middle of the blanket sprawled on the floor; the separate thick blanket covered them. They whispered and chattered about this-and-that for at least an hour, before Candlehead had suddenly grown tired again and fell asleep. Soon after, Vanellope was dreaming just the same.

* * *

The sky was full of gray cotton, and the ground swirls of color beneath her. The world spun on a needle above a great space of inky darkness that frightened Vanellope. Upon her head was a pink tiara, though she was still wearing her usual attire.

"Ecco!" she yelled, standing upon a marshmallow like stump, dipped in a brown sugar. Around her sound reverberated her voice, and she sighed. Somehow she knew she was alone here. From the space in front of her rose a castle; her palace of candy full of servants and luxury. Since she was alone, she would make it so that she was not- and the servants would be the first to greet her.

She glitched and jumped inside the palace walls, into the room King Candy once ruled from; the main room and center of the castle. The floor felt sticky and a goop dripped from the walls, before suddenly disappearing. Birds chirped outside, despite the fact there were no real birds in Sugar Rush. It suddenly began to rain outside, thunder booming loud enough to wake the dead. The birds where gone.

The roar of sticky rain sounded upon the roof, and Vanellope felt dizzy. "Princess!" suddenly came an urgent voice.

"Yes?" she called back, a Teddy Gram with a single ear came trotting towards her. He glitched then was right in front of her.

"We're under attack!" he said, out of breath.

"What?" Vanellope gasped, in shock. _Under attack?_ She thought, _But we're the only kingdom here! Unless. ._

Her candy palace crumpled around her- and legions upon legions of Cy-bugs stood in uniform, clicking and buzzing. She gaped in horror, soaked in the sticky globs of multicolored rain.

The Teddy Gram began to deform, turning glittery pink. He whispered, "Everyone is _dead_."

* * *

The world rose to her with a start, limbs jumping and a barely audible gasp from her mouth. Vanellope had been dreaming- or rather having a nightmare. They came every so often, as a child's head is always filled with odd things in the night. She sat up in the dark, sighing.

Though unaware of the time, three in the morning felt correct. Vanellope felt heat to her left, which was strange since Candlehead was on her right. She gave a look in the darkness, turning her head and making out the form of Jubileena. She must have woke up and crawled under the covered with them.

Even though there was plenty of room, the cherry red girl was sleeping a little too close. Vanellope slipped back down and scooted over towards Candlehead, who was still sleeping soundly. She turned and nuzzled the girls back, closing her eyes and hoping not to be thrusted back into a nightmare.

Waking up in the middle of the night wasn't a very pleasant experience. Maybe it was because how stressful the day had been. Or technically, if she was correct about the time, how stressful _yesterday_ had been.

She sighed; Candlehead's strong minty smell helped calm her nerves. Soon, she slipped back into blackness, and this time dreamed of pink sugar and green mint.

* * *

_**A big thanks to my friend MagicComet over at DeviantART who gave me the suggestion of having the scene witnessed! What a dear!**_

_**Sorry this chapter came so late!**_

**edit;** _ok im sorry imsorry i just- _

_i just cant stop laughing at this one review im sorry im not being mean but omg_

_"dude please dont make a peanut butter pumpkin story because im christian"_

_i litteraly started laughing i couldn't help it because not only is this NOT a rancis/gloyd fic, your religion wouldnt keep me from typing one even if it was ahahhAA_

_ohhman you guests are so silly i love you bros, makes my day_


	9. You GOTTA Say it!

She woke with the covers kicked off, a warm pressure on her chest. Her left arm was numb, and she was hot. Vanellope groaned, trying to move her left hand's fingers. It felt like her arm had thousands of pricks in it!

She rubbed at her eyes with the hand that wasn't numb, raising her head slightly. Candlehead had somehow crawled over her sideways, sprawled out. Then, to her left, Jubileena was clinging onto her arm, as if at any moment it would be ripped away. Maybe she shouldn't sleep in the middle next time; though she hadn't expected Jubileena to cuddle up with them under the covers.

Either way, she wanted up. With a little prodding, Candlehead jutted awake, then went right back to sleep again. She received a growl from an annoyed Vanellope, who shoved her off with no mercy. "I said to get off."

"It's. . like two in'tha mornin'." yawned Candlehead, not moving from the position she fell into. Vanellope rolled her eyes in good nature, shaking her arm from Jubileena.

She got up to go use the restroom and comb through her hair- which was tough with all the bits stuck in it. Somehow she managed, like she did everyday. After, she walked into the cool hall to see if Sour Bill was awake; usually he woke before her. She found him taking down what was left of the decorations in one of the corridors, having help from a taller candy bar like servant, being that he was even shorter than the Sugar Rush racers.

"Mornin'." mumbled Vanellope, watching them a moment.

"Good morning." he replied unenthusiastically, balling up streamers in a hand. He was standing up on the candy bar servants hands to be able to reach them. It was lucky he weighted so little! "Are any of the others up?"

Vanellope shrugged and smoothed the edges of her sleep shorts. "I don't know. Candlehead might have gone back to sleep."

Sour Bill was let down on the floor, looking up at the taller president. "Taffyta and Crumbelina already left."

"Figures. What time is it?"

"Last time I looked it was nine."

"Yes, nine thirty." correct the servant.

This received a loud _"Ughhhh"_ from Vanellope, who threw her head back in exaggeration. "It's too early. I'm going to go back to bed." she lazily shuffled back to her room, no reply from Sour Bill. He was probably happy to not have to deal with her for a few more hours.

The races would begin around lunch. Until three, it was mainly young adults with childish spirits who came in, since the children had school. Even so, there were usually very few, and their game wasn't the most popular with that generation. After all, Sugar Rush was filled with children and designed in a way many would call girlish. It- most of the time- wasn't "mature" enough for the young adults who enjoyed casual gaming.

As Vanellope arrived back to her room, she noticed Candlehead was sitting up where she had been originally sleeping. The thing was; she appeared to_ still _be sleeping. Her eyes were closed!

The sight amused Vanellope, who tip-toed over and poked her in the shoulder. Almost instantaneously Candlehead's eyes flung open and she jumped in shock. "Ahh!" she gasped, getting a loud crackle from Vanellope, who then fell on her butt in her laughter.

There game a moan from Jubileena, who flung her marshmallow pillow towards them. It missed Vanellope and smacked Candlehead in the face. "Mph!"

Jubileena cracked her eyes open, slightly confused as to what had just happened. She was partially still asleep, and wasn't aware she just assaulted Candlehead with a pillow. "Whadda you guys laughing about?" she asked, stretching.

"You hit Candlehead with a marshmallow!" laughed Vanellope. She put a hand on Candlehead's head and lightly petted her in a feeble attempt to get rid of the grumpy expression on her face.

Candlehead stuck out her tongue and looked at Vanellope, embarrassed as a wobbly grin soon forced itself in her expression.

"What time is it?" Jubileena asked from where she lay.

"Nine thirty." replied Vanellope, who scooted closer to Candlehead to continue petting her. Candlehead looked rather shy, but didn't object.

"I gotta pee." suddenly declared Jubileena, slightly ruining the cute moment. Not like she could tell it was anything more than sisterly, however. She stood up dizzily then walked off to the restroom.

Within the next few hours the others woke, dressed, and went home. They would wave from their karts, giving friendly smiles. Snowanna was even nice enough to say "I hope you had a great birthday!" before she drove off. She was always such a sweetie pie.

Vanellope had convinced Candlehead to stay behind for a little while longer so they could hang out alone, though. After an entire night at the castle, it seemed like there was nothing left to do inside, so they took their karts and Vanellope led them out into the wilderness.

It was time for step two, and Vanellope von Schweetz had the_ perfect_ plan laid out neatly in her mind.

Dressed in her usual attire with her hair tied and hat on, Candlehead was happy to have the weight on her head. Knowing her flame was right over her was much more comforting than knowing it was off sitting somewhere without her. She skipped in a circle in a clearing where they'd walked to, ecstatic.

Vanellope, who was gnawing on a candy cane, laughed. "What'er you doing?" she questioned with more amusement than mock.

"Skipping!"

"I can see that, hothead, but what for?"

"I love my candle!" she cried, grinning and coming to a stop to rock on her heals. She really was a very odd girl.

"You're crazy." teased Vanellope, pointing the candy cane at her.

"I'll show you who's crazy, miss president!" within hardly a second, Candlehead had grabbed a hold of the cane end of Vanellope's candy cane.

"Hey!" growled Vanellope in good humor. They pulled back and forth a moment before Candlehead began to circle her, which forced Vanellope to spin in place. She lost her grip and balance all at once, and nearly fell over. Candlehead pranced away, laughing loudly in pride. "Why yooouuu. ."

"What'cha gonna do about it?" she turned on her heels and smugly stared at Vanellope- who was trying hard not to smile. Candlehead opened her mouth and threatened to lick the candy cane, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't you dare!"

"I'm gonna," she paused "unless you can get it back?"

Vanellope popped her fingers and looked about ready to tackle her to the ground. "Bring it on!"

With that, Candlehead spun and took off among the towering striped trees, Vanellope close behind. This was not only fun, but exhilarating! It was the closest thing to kart racing; racing on foot. Which, not to mention, was much harder as it involved pushing your body to its physical limits to stay ahead.

"Can't catch me!" sing-songed Candlehead through huffs of air.

"We'll see about that!" Vanellope yelled back, pushing forward hard. Then- she got an idea.

Candlehead looked behind her and- wait, where did she go? She skidded to a sloppy halt, glancing around suspiciously. There was no way Vanellope could get lost out here; she lived in these woods alone for so long she must know every individual candy cane tree with her eyes closed! Candlehead decided she'd better at least continue to move forward, and began to walk.

"Vanellope?" she let out in confusion, though it felt more like she where talking to herself.

Then, out of nowhere, there came a savage yell and boom! Candlehead found herself pinned to the ground from above. Ouch. "Ha! Didn't think to look up!" gloated Vanellope, plucking the candy cane from Candlehead's hand.

Her cheek was pressed into the candy coated ground, and her hat had tipped off and lay a few inches away. "Oh, no fair." came Candlehead gloomily. She didn't like losing.

"Is too fair, I outsmarted you!" Vanellope was sitting on top of her, legs on either side and hands planted down on her shoulders firmly. "_And_ I've got you pinned. S'what happens when you try and go against racing champion Vanellope von Schweetz!"

Candlehead grumbled and pouted, wiggling. "Nooope- can't let you up!" declared Vanellope, sticking the candy cane in her mouth.

"But-"

"You gotta say 'Vanellope von Schweetz is the most intelligent, fastest, and prettiest president there ever was.' And then MAYBE I'll let you up." This received more useless wiggling from Candlehead. "You GOTTA say it!"

"Fine." she seemed to hesitate, but finally swallowed her pride. "Vanellope von Schweetz is the most. . intelligent, fastest, and prettiest president there ever was."

"That's more like it! But flattery will get you _nowhere_." Vanellope got off and stood up, offering a hand to her as she sat up.

"You big meany." despite her grumpiness she took her hand.

"I'm only teasin', you know I like'ya!"

Candlehead laughed, grabbing her hat and putting it back where it belonged. Surprisingly the flame was still lit. She looked a little embarrassed at Vanellope's reminder. "Yeah, I know." she said quietly.

Vanellope snickered and tipped her head in a gesture "Come on."

Before they could continue their romp and head deeper into the forest, there came- was that clapping? The two looked towards the sound, stopping in place.

"Brava, you two," Crumbelina- the little devil- stepped out from around one of the thick candy canes. "brava on being the _cheesiest_ racers to occupy Sugar Rush." she stood, holding her hands behind her back.

"Where the heck did you come from? What are you doing here?" asked Vanellope, angry. Crumbelina was so annoying!

"Oh, nothing. I had just decided to take a stroll when I came across you two." she paced slowly, an obvious lie. "I didn't want to spoil your fun so I waited until you were done scurrying around like squirrels to say anything." she paused "No offense, miss Schweetz."

Vanellope crossed her arms and shifted weight to one leg. "Oh really? Cause if I didn't know any better, you were probably just spying on us."

Candlehead nodded. "Yeah!"

"Me?" gasped Crumbelina, pretending to be shocked. "Nooo- there was enough of that last night." she bit her lip, tilting her chin up. She was a smug son-of-a-gun.

Candlehead looked devastated, gaping and turning her head toward Vanellope. Vanellope was giving Crumbelina the nastiest look- if looks could kill she's be bleeding on the ground by now. "Did you-"

Crumbelina cut her off, waving a hand. "But of course I'm too classy to do such a thing. Taffyta told me. And my my what a thing she said! You and Candlehead- ick, I don't even want to say it!"

"Oh please don't tell nobody, Crumbelina!" whined Candlehead, looking as if she could cry. She didn't want to go through the torment that she was bombarded with during truth-or-dare the night before.

"I swear if you say a word. ." Vanellope growled, taking the candy cane from her mouth and breaking it with a hand, before tossing it off to the side. She took a threatening step forward, but Crumbelina didn't even flinch.

She scoffed, smiling. She had the two begging on their knees. "Of course not." she let the two look relieved for a moment. "Unless I'm told to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Vanellope, tensing again.

"Just what it sounds like. I'm keeping my mouth zipped for now, but Taffyta and I have come to an agreement. You wouldn't expect us to, but this is too good a deal to give up. If she gives me the say-so, both of us will have rumors spread all over Sugar Rush in a heart beat!" she gave a loud crackle, before suddenly stopping and regaining her stature. "However who's to stop me if I decide to tell without her permission?"

"What's in it for you?" asked Candlehead, looking pale and fidgeting.

"Listen, the thing is she and I are black mailing you. You may be the president, Vanellope, but I doubt you want this going around. Refusing the advances of Rancis for someone like her? Not to mention the whole _'her'_ part."

"Get to the point!" spat Vanellope.

"Testy! In short- we want you to stop winning."

"W-what?" Candlehead stuttered, lip wobbling as if she were about to spill tears any second. "You can't make us do that!"

Crumbelina laughed, leaning forward. "Just watch us. If you two don't stop winning races, you'll have to face the ridicule and slander of the other racers. They'll laugh you out of your little 'leadership' position, Vanellope."

Vanellope was silent, looking at the ground and bouncing a little in her nervousness. Would it really be that bad? What if even coming from Vanellope later wouldn't help? She didn't want to be a coward. She didn't want to lose races, either. The world was pressing down on her shoulders and she felt like she would break; the great Vanellope von Schweetz cracking under the weight of her own romantic tendencies.

What kind of leader was that?

"I'll tell you what, Vanellope." Crumbelina began, sounding slightly more reasonable. "We'll give you a day to decide. You'd better make up your mind quickly, if you don't agree before sunset tomorrow then the secret is out. There will be no going back."

Vanellope hesitated, but looked up and nodded solemnly.

"I'll be hearing from you tomorrow then, I expect. Ta-ta, miss Schweetz, Candlehead." with that Crumbelina turned and headed back the way she came, disappearing into the distance.

There was a silence between Candlehead and Vanellope, putting both in a state of tense isolation. "What are we gonna do, Vanellope?" asked Candlehead, face flushed in her attempt to keep back tears.

"I. . I don't know." she was being put in a tight spot. Racing was the most important thing embedded in every one of the racers code in Sugar Rush; losing a race was a shame to their character. On the other hand, she had her reputation and Candlehead's feelings to consider. "I could just die." she admitted, voice raspy.

Candlehead closed the small gap between them and locked their arms. The closeness was comforting, but didn't do much to put them back in a spirited mood. "Me too."

They began to walk- just walk. They weren't even officially together and already their growing relationship had began to cause controversy.

"You know," sighed Candlehead, looking sad but calmed down sightly. "I don't think we should do it. I'm gonna try and be braver, Vanellope- and you know what?" she sounded a little unsure of herself, voice shaky. "I ain't gonna let Taffyta or Crumbelina push you or me around anymore!"

Vanellope was shocked. "But they'll make fun of you! AND me!"

Candlehead shook her head, face scrunching up. "Yeah well you're the president, they can't force you to do anything!"

Vanellope thought a moment- that's right, she could punish them. Suddenly everything seemed a little sweeter. Though, even if she did punish them, they could still tell one way or another. If Candlehead was okay with letting the secret out so early, fine. Then if anybody else dare say a word of hate to either of the two; she would send them to the dungeon! Which- by the way- she kept and re-named.

Maybe even worse, she could suspend them from racing for some time. Take away their karts. There were plenty of racers who could fill in missing spots, and with the games code in her reach, she could make sure their karts would disappear into thin air! Ha!

"You're right!" exclaimed Vanellope.

Candlehead gave a huge toothy smile "I am? Oh yay! We'll show'em who's boss!"

"Yeah, Taffyta thinks she'll have us begging for mercy but I'm gonna turn the tables on her and that stuck up Crumbelina. I'm the president and they better start treating me like one! Still can't believe they're working together though."

Candlehead looked utterly ecstatic that her idea had actually been a clever one, and her grin refused to leave. They had the upper hand, after all!

"Oh- Candlehead- I almost forgot!" Vanellope cried in excitement, pulling her along quickly.

"Wh-what?"

"I wanna show you something!"

Before long, they came to a mountain; or rather, Diet Cola Mountain. Candlehead glanced around, curious and confused. "What am I supposed to be looking at?" she asked quietly.

Vanellope unlocked their arms and pointed at the side of the mountain, smiling in that I-know-something-you-don't way. "Walk into it."

This got a very strange look from Candlehead, who looked back and forth from where she was pointing to Vanellope. "Uh, Vanellope?"

"Go on!"

"If. . you say so." Candlehead cautiously stepped forward, looked the mountain up and down, then reached a hand forward to touch it. To her surprise, her hand went through! She quickly yanked it back and glanced back at Vanellope with big eyes. "Uhh?"

Vanellope rolled her eyes and stomped through the mountain side without a second thought, disappearing into it. When she dissolved into the scenery, Candlehead found her self being yanked through. She nearly tripped but latched her hands into Vanellope's jacket in time.

"Careful there, clumsy!" laughed Vanellope, helping her steady.

"Sorry. What. . is this place, exactly?" her voice mimicked the surprise on her face.

"This," Vanellope said, tugging Candlehead deeper inside "is my home! Or, what used to be my home. I live in the palace now, obviously. Kinda miss this place."

"You lived here? When?"

"Back when none of you guys remembered me!" she looked around the cavern with pride, listening to the cola pit bubbling.

"Oh gee. I'm sorry."

Vanellope faced her "'Bout what, me living here or forgetting me?"

Candlehead shrugged "Both I guess. Not a very nice place to live. And you were all alone! It makes me feel just terrible."

There came a sigh from Vanellope, though the smile remained on her face. "None of you guys acted like that when it was actually happening." Candlehead's face twisted into agony. "But I still forgive all of you!"

The green headed girl didn't reply; was she trying to break her heart?

"Check this out." Vanellope took a pebble and flung it up at the Mentos formation above the cola pit, popping off a little piece. She moved a arm out and forced Candlehead to quickly back up behind a rock with her before the cola reacted. There came a burst of hot soda that sprinkled over them as it settled again.

"Wooahman!" Candlehead bounced, already forgetting the grief she had a few seconds earlier.

"It's a more controlled explosion than when everything was getting munched on by those ugly Cy-bugs."

"Y-yeah! I wanna do it." They came out from be hind the rock, where Vanellope picked up a pebble and handed it too her with a mischievous grin.

"Bombs-a-way!" Candlehead laughed loudly and threw it at the Mentos as Vanellope had demonstrated. The Mentos popped off, fell, and exploded just as before, getting squeaky giggles from an amused Candlehead.

"See? The place wasn't so bad! Y'got your bed, your entertainment, your. . half-finished race track. Great place!" Candlehead nodded in agreement with Vanellope. Oddly enough, she didn't ask how come there was still a bed set up even though Vanellope no longer lived there. It was more for nostalgia's sake, even though those where rougher times.

"It is pretty neat."

"Yup- so um Candlehead?"

Candlehead had began to walk around, looking up. "Mhm?"

"So you remember last night yeah? In the hall?"

Candlehead stopped where she was, face on fire. "Uh- mhm." she turned to look back at Vanellope, hands clasped together.

"Well I sorta wanted to ask you somethin'. That involves that." Vanellope was looking at the ground bashfully. She lightly nudged a chocolate rock with her foot, pulling a hand through her hair.

"O-oh? Like what?"

"I was just thinkin'." Vanellope paused, finding it hard to get the words out in the open.

"Yuh-huuuh?"

"Um. Well you do like me right?" she looked back up, head tilted to the side and looking worried.

"Of course!"

"I mean like, y'know. Like-like."

Candlehead hesitated, cheeks a crimson red, then nodded innocently.

"Then maybe you and I couuuuld. Kinda just. . start dating sorta? Like for real?"

There was more hesitation from Candlehead- was she in shock? She lifted up on the tips of her toes a moment before skipping over and hugging Vanellope. It was another one of those awkward hugs that happened to be a little too tight. "Ohhh you. You just- golly!"

Vanellope laughed nervously. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes!"

"Then we're official?"

"Yes!" Candlehead let go and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "After what just happened out there with Crumbelina I didn't know if you still wanted to be anything or not."

"Well, we ought to give her and Taffyta something more than a kiss to talk about!"

Candlehead nodded quickly, before looking up in wonder. "Does this mean I'm kinda like, royal or something?"

"I'm not a princess."

"I know but. . can I be a princess then?"

This made Vanellope laugh. "You could be the queen for all I care."

"I'd have to have a king to be a queen." Candlehead stated.

"Yeah, you're right."

"You could be a king, if you really wanted Vanellope."

"Ew, no thanks! I like being a girl! Like, how would that even happen?"

Candlehead shrugged, locking their arms as she had earlier. "You'd have to be called something else if it ever did. Like. . Man-ellope!" it wasn't sugar coated but the pun made both of them laugh out loud. They began to head out of the cave, beaming.

"Yuck, that would be a horrible name!"

"Haha yeah."

"We'd better get back soon. I think the races will start in a little while." Vanellope mentioned as they proceeded into the candy cane forest to start for their karts.

"I ain't gonna go easy on you even if we are together, you know!"

"Bring it on, hot head!"

As the two found their karts and drove away from the forest, neither of them had a single thought lingering in their minds about Crumbelina's threat. That would come later.

Crumbelina and Taffyta could go jump in a lake.

* * *

_**Sorry this took a while to be posted. I had it done a few days ago, but my friend has been too busy for the past three days so I couldn't get a critique out of her. Just gave up waiting, haha. Had another friend read it over instead. c:**_

_**Taffyta and Crumbelina are stupid to think they can get away with this. :[**_


	10. A Sudden Fear of Bears

_**Sorry this came so late, I took a bit of time away from this. Some time away from working on it would help me keep it fresh in my mind when I got back, since I feel I constantly want new things to do.**_

* * *

Vanellope sat alone in the floor of her expansive room. Night had fallen, and she had gotten out some paper and a wide array of crayons to doodle with in boredom. The day had been rather exciting; Vanellope now found herself in a new relationship with Candlehead. Less excitingly, Crumbelina- working with Taffyta- had tried to spoil their fun. The joke was on them; Vanellope wouldn't let those two cavities screw around with the president.

On her stomach and kicking her legs back, the raven haired girl drew a pink circle and began to color it in. She sighed, taking a dark blue and making a swirl inside the big pink circle. After, she promptly crumpled the paper, and tossed it out into the hallway where she knew Sour Bill would find it later. Making trouble for him was always amusing.

"I'm gonna diiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeee-" she took a deep breath "-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee." It was around nine at night, and the castle was deathly silent. Her slumber party had long past since yesterday, and now she would be alone in her big boring palace again. The last contact with her peers was when Candlehead came by for the cake she promised earlier today.

She was getting extremely antsy, rolling onto her back and pretty much flinging the crayons away with an arm. It was time to find something else to do.

"BILLLL." she whined, wondering if he was anywhere close enough to hear her. Probably not. She slowly stood up and waltzed into the hallway, swaying and looking back and forth. Where would he be? She took a right, but before she reached the corner she stopped, backed up, and grabbed the wadded up paper she had tossed into the hall.

After skipping through the halls, taking many different turns and checking rooms, she found him shoving junk into one of the more vacant ones. Vanellope had ordered that toys be made for her some time ago, and perhaps some of the other junk rooms had began to be too full. Vanellope grinned. "Billll, whatcha' doin'?"

Sour Bill grimaced, turning from his chore and looking up at her. "I'm moving your crap."

Vanellope rocked on her heels, hands behind her back with an innocent smile. "Why?"

"You have too much stuff."

"Why?"

"Because you're the president."

"Why?"

He rolled his eyes."Vanellope, is there a reason for the questions?"

"Nope." Sour Bill stood there another moment, before he moved through the doorway to go collect more of her toys from another room. As he turned, Vanellope lunged and forcefully threw the paper wad at him, a direct hit! Sour Bill jumped and glared, looking back at her but kept going. That was no fun! Vanellope trotted and began to follow him.

"Sooooo." she said, starting to walk backwards.

"Do you need anything? How about one of the numerous toys you never touch?"

"Nah. Why do I need toys when I can just mess with you?"

"You know, if you walk like that you'll run into something."

"No I won't! I bet I could even drive an entire race course backwards!" with that, she found herself flailing and off balance, before falling onto her bottom painfully. "Oof!"

"Told you." Vanellope could almost swear she heard him faintly laugh at her misery.

"I didn't trip over nothin', I just got ahead of myself is all. Hmph!" she quickly got back up and walked normally. Sour Bill stopped and got a whole armful of licorice jumping ropes from one of the various rooms, then headed back to the one Vanellope had found him in. "So like, if I licked you you would be all sour n'stuff wouldn't you?"

What sort of question was that? "Of course I would. But I'd prefer it if you didn't lick me. I've been nearly eaten once already by your big friend."

"Hahahaha! Ralph? Oh man I wish I could'a seen that!"

"It wasn't very pleasant." Sour Bill shuddered at the memory as he hobbled into the slightly empty room to toss the jump ropes into. Work was boring- where were the other servants when you needed them?

"I bet he spit you out right away, didn't he?"

Sour Bill sighed and gave her a look. She had a stupidly big grin, like the kind when she was about to start poking fun at you until she slowly grew bored.

"Okayokay I'll stop, I promise. After you let me lick you!"

"Oh gosh, don't you-" Vanellope took a step forward, making an evil face and grabby hands.

"Vanellope!" he yelled, backing up. She took another few steps, laughing like a maniac.

"Mawahahahaaa! I'm the president, you can't say no!"

"I'll- I'll- oh you're right." Sour Bill reverted back to his more bland state, the shock draining from him. Vanellope dropped her arms and gave a annoyed look. She was only playing, and he just ruined it.

"Why can't you be more fun? I wasn't actually gonna lick you!"

"What does it matter?" he droned.

"Uggghhh."

"Is that all you need?"

Vanellope paused, backing up and standing on one foot in the door way. "I guess. You're such a stick in the fudge." as she stepped out and started back for her room sadly, she suddenly remembered something. She reversed into the room in excitement. "Wait wait!"

"Yes?"

"I do need something!"

"Are there monsters under your bed again?"

Vanellope's face went red, she clenched her fist. "No! I need some advice."

"Advice? My oh my." his tone was sarcastic.

"Shut up! It's really important."

"Go on, then."

"Say I gotta. . boyfriend. Right?"

"Hypothetical, or did the president finally stop blowing off the peanut butter fellow?"

"Ew no! Hypothetical! So, I gotta boyfriend and like, it's a secret m'kay? And then two other people find out and say they're gonna tell everyone. And if they tell everyone everything will go all BOOM! And then we'll be laughed at and the whole manner of government will collapse!"

Sour Bill didn't seem to find her claim very believable. "Wait- why would it do that?"

"I- hm. I don't know. It just will! But that's not all. The people who where gonna tell everyone said that if we want to keep it a secret, we have to stop winning races. BUT. I'm the president, so I don't gotta listen to some no-gooder's blackmail."

"This 'hypothetical' story is getting long." he made sure to put out air quotes at the word hypothetical.

"Shh! I'm almost done. So, if I wanted to punish them for being mean to the president and her boyfriend, which do you think is better? Throwing them into the dungeon, or taking away their karts?"

Sour Bill was giving her a funny look by now. She couldn't tell what he was thinking from his expression, but finally he gave an answer, however slow it came."Karts."

Vanellope tapped a finger on her chin and nodded. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Where did all of this come from?" he asked in disbelief.

"Hm? Oh no where! It was just hypothetical like you said. Uh-duuuhhh!"

"Why would you need to fabricate a-"

"It doesn't matter!"

Sour Bill tapped his foot expectantly, obviously he was becoming irritated with her responses. He waved her off and moved to gather more of the overflow from the other room. "Sometimes I wonder how you ever became the ruler at all, Vanellope."

Vanellope stepped out to watch him walk away, deciding she was through with him. "And I wonder why you were made such a sourpuss!" Vanellope crossed her arms and grumbled. With that, she started back to her room.

It would be another hour or so before she would finally begin to nod off.

* * *

Vanellope stood alone in a great space that she somehow knew was the center of the castle. There was no furniture, but behind her were tall sugar columns. She turned and watched as rain poured down outside, puddles forming where the spaces between the columns were. She sighed.

"Princess!" came a voice. It was familiar, yet slightly distorted. As if she had heard the voice before, but there was something off about it. From around one of the columns hobbled a teddy gram. Vanellope recalled this particular servant; one of the more fragile of them, with one ear bitten off. However, he looked much worse than before. Rather than his ear being eaten, half of his face had been eaten. There were large bite marks and crumbs falling off around the area.

"Why would you be in the rain?" questioned Vanellope, hands in pockets as he came towards her, sticky multicolored blobs dripped off of him. "You might get soft and fall apart."

The bear seemed fidgety, looking around and refusing to answer. As if he were scared of something.

"Hello?" Vanellope asked sarcastically, a little angry. She didn't know why she felt angry, she just suddenly was.

"Yes? Do you need something?" asked the bear, looking down at her with a deep frown. He rubbed his sticky cookie paws together.

"Why were you in the rain?"

"Rain?" he seemed confused. Vanellope rose an eyebrow and looked past the bear. The rain had stopped, and there didn't seem to be any evidence that there ever had been any rain at all.

"Oh."

"I almost forgot to tell you something." suddenly came the teddy gram, who was still dripping despite there not being a single drop outside anymore. Vanellope waited for him to continue, but he did not.

"Go on then. Spit it out!"

"I think the other bears are angry!" he exclaimed, a little louder than needed.

"Other bears?" asked Vanellope, tilting her head. The teddy gram nodded vigorously and leaned over so their faces would be at equal height. There was concern on his face.

"You need to leave."

Vanellope scrunched up her face, looking behind her feeling that she heard a commotion through the walls. When she turned back, the teddy gram had become rather- to her dismay- lifelike. "What are-?"

He had dropped onto four stumpy arms, paws equipped with sharp claws. His body was large and covered in shaggy, messy brown fur. What scared her the most, however, was his face. It was half eaten, just as before, not sparing the blood and brains. The beast was inches from her and she began to panic, backing up. It roared and stomped forward on it's massive claws.

Vanellope was backed against the wall, her head filled with exploding noise. She was about to begin hyperventilating; there was no escape, she would die. The bear continued its tromp, and soon her entire field of vision was nothing but blood, teeth, and the fiery eyes of a savage beast foreign to Sugar Rush.

"LEAVE!" it screamed, and there came a pain in Vanellope's chest as if being shot.

* * *

_**There you have it; a nice short, cliff hanger ending chapter. I intend to make a sequel, and I should begin on it either Monday or Tuesday I expect the sequel to have less chapters, but more intensity.**_

_EDIT:** The first bit of the sequel is up, under the title "Phase Three."**_


	11. Phase Three

_**This is part of the sequel's first chapter; if you'd like to read the rest check out **__"Phase Three"__** on my profile!**_

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"I had the most horrible dream." confessed Vanellope, sitting upon a gumdrop, arms crossed.

"Oh?"

"There was this bear."

Candlehead looked up from where she sat in front of the gum drop, picking at the sugar coated ground absently. "Like a gummi bear?"

"No, it was a teddy gram. But then it wasn't."

The flame headed girl looked confused. "It was then wasn't?" she asked, head tilted.

"It turned into a REAL bear! Like, claws and fur and. . grrrr!" Vanellope used her hands to exaggerate, curling her fingers into 'claws' and bearing her teeth. "That's not even the scariest part! Half of it's head was. . was. Bitten off!"

Candlehead's face scrunched up in disgust. "Ew! Bet that had ta hurt."

Amused by Candlehead's lighthearted attitude, Vanellope gave a small laugh. "Uh-huh, but then it hit me, and I woke up." The part she didn't tell her was that she had come close to wetting the bed.

"I don't really ever have any nightmares."

"I get them some times, I guess I was a little stressed. I don't know."

Candlehead observed her knowingly, standing and brushing her bottom off, then straightening her jacket. "Is it because of Taffyta and Crumbelina?" she asked softly.

Vanellope shrugged, looking off. "I guess so. I don't know why, Candlehead, I mean I have all the means to keep those two from ever saying a word if I wanted, but I just- ugh!" She looked frustrated, closing her eyes and furrowing her eyebrows.

The day before, Candlehead and Vanellope had gone out into the forest alone to talk and mess around before the races. After a fun romp, Crumbelina- the little devil- had seemed to pop out of no where. She was mocking them; it had turned out Taffyta had spied upon Candlehead and Vanellope the night of Vanellope's birthday, which by now was two days ago, counting today. If it wasn't common knowledge that Candlehead and Vanellope had kissed, it soon would be. They had until sunset before meeting with Taffyta and Crumbelina again, to either give up their racing ranks, or allow them to spread the word of Vanellope's little crush. Which, by now, was no longer a crush and had become secretly official.

Candlehead sat down beside Vanellope, their shoulders touching. She lightly shoved her, hoping to cheer her up. She was an optimistic girl. "Hey, don't worry about it, all you gotta do is say the word and they're outta the races! Remember?"

Vanellope opened her eyes, looking at her girlfriend (girlfriend felt so weird to imagine her as, even if it was true). "Oh I know. Taffyta just gets to me. I'm okay, we've still got plenty of time. The races haven't even started yet. After today, if she still thinks she can make me beg at her feet, then her kart will poof- vanish! Hahahaha!"

"Yeah!" Candlehead grinned, laughing with her. Vanellope playfully pushed her off the gumdrop, sticking out her tongue. Candlehead flailed her arms and slid off, keeping her balance. "Woooahh!"

"I still can't help but wonder if that bear from my dream meant anything. It said something about other bears being angry. Why bears? We don't even have bears like that here. Fur or whatever."

"I'unno, it was only a dream." Candlehead answered, readjusting her hat then holding out a hand. "Let's go do somethin' else."

"M'kay." Vanellope gladly took it, hopped off the gumdrop, then the two walked away toward the palace hand in hand. They still had an hour or so left before they had to go to the race track.


End file.
